Johnson muscles in with a few caustic salvos, Maradona-style

When two of the most controversial sportsmen of the past two decades teamed up, you half expected there to be fallout of nuclear proportions.

The once pumped-up but now deservedly deflated Ben Johnson is acting as personal trainer to star-gone-to-seed Maradona, a coupling made in some designer drug altered heaven.

There is not much work about for a former world record holder with a tainted past so when a kindred spirit like Maradona came along and asked Johnson to lick the pudgy one into shape he said 'yes' in much quicker time than it used to take him to dash 100 metres.

And Johnson obviously knows his business.

Maradona stripped off his shirt and ran on a treadmill for the assembled media last week to flaunt his new slimline appearance, courtesy of the Johnson School of Fitness.

'I am doing this just so all the Argentines who love me can see that I have not cheated. I owe it to Ben, the fastest man in the world. He gave me stamina. I've never been stronger in my life,' said Maradona, blissfully unaware of the irony in the statement after his 18 minutes on the treadmill.

Johnson, you'll recall, had a penchant for showing off his muscular frame at the height of his sprinting prowess - muscle mass that was created by steroids swallowed by the biggest cheat in the athletics business.