THE SIDELINES : Johnson Says He Can Still Run

A beaming Ben Johnson confidently predicted today that he again will run with the world’s fastest sprinters.

“I have no doubt in my mind that I can run fast again,” the suspended runner told a morning news conference.

But how fast? Johnson wasn’t specific but he did say that at 28 he feels he’s capable of running as fast without steroids as he did with the performance-enhancing drugs.

“When I ran 9.83 and 9.79, (steroids) didn’t help me that much,” Johnson said. “I know what I can do.”

When the Jamaican-born sprinter tested positive for anabolic steroids at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, he was barred from running for two years and stripped of the gold medal and the 100-meter world record of 9.83 seconds he set in the process. On Jan. 20, 1990, the International Amateur Athletic Federation also erased the previous world record of 9.83 seconds that Johnson had set in 1987 at the world championships in Rome.

Johnson and his lawyer, Ed Futerman, called the news conference to comment on the findings of a Canadian inquiry in drug use in sport. Both men said they were happy that the report has finally been released.

“I’m very happy the report has come out,” Johnson said. “Hopefully the government will decide later this summer that I can run for this country.”