Disgraced Johnson now fights the other corner

It has been nearly 25 years since the "dirtiest race in history", the Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson's gold-medal-winning, and steroid-infused, 100-metre dash at the Seoul Olympics.

On Wednesday, a few weeks short of the anniversary, Johnson sat inside a Midtown Manhattan hotel's windowless conference room to present himself as a cautionary tale, a living lesson about the perils of doping, and a truth-teller in a world where he said cover-ups were as common as cleats.

"Just because an athlete didn't test positive doesn't mean they're clean," he said.

Johnson, known for being brash, sounded a note of humility. "I want to set the record straight once and for all that I'm a small part of a problem," he said.

Johnson was joined by Jose Canseco, another tarnished star who has made a second career out of discussing how he cheated during his first. Canseco suggested that he be given carte blanche to enter Major League Baseball clubhouses to talk to players about doping. "It will never happen," he said.

Though Johnson looked a few years past his running days, he still had some of the old bravado that made him one of the sport's biggest stars. "I'm sorry to say that the drugs overshadowed my great ability that God gifted me," Johnson said, "because you know, even in 1988, no one could react faster than me off the gun."