Melbourne: Disgraced sprinter Ben Johnson has claimed superstar rival Carl Lewis played a part in a conspiracy to sabotage his drug sample at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, costing him his 100m gold medal.

Johnson set a world record of 9.79 seconds to win the 100m at Seoul but was stripped of his gold medal and world record when he tested positive for the banned steroid stanozolol.

The Canadian-born sprinter has since admitted using banned drugs but has continued to insist his positive test at Seoul was the result of a conspiracy to discredit him.

“I have the information on how it was done and why it was done this way and who was behind it,” Johnson told the Friday edition of a Melbourne in an interview.

Asked whether Lewis was involved, Johnson said: “I won’t say too much but… he is involved.”

Johnson has claimed he drank beer with a former US football player in the drug test waiting room at Seoul, that the footballer was “a family friend” of Carl Lewis and that his beer had been tainted with stanozolol.

“I’ve been speaking to my lawyer and he wants to keep it as low (key) as possible until next June. We’re trying to get some information, try to get that guy (the footballer) to speak,” Johnson told the paper.

Lewis, in his book Inside Track, admitted to knowing the footballer seen drinking with Johnson in Seoul but ridiculed any suggestion that the player may have tampered with Johnson’s beer. The paper was unable to contact Lewis for comment.

Lewis’ manager, Joe Douglas, rejected Johnson’s claims, saying: “Carl had absolutely nothing to do with Ben testing positive… There is no way, ever, that Carl would sabotage or make any athletes turn positive. That’s not his style.

“Carl would never ever try to get somebody caught on drugs. He might be upset they weren’t getting caught, but he would never sabotage anyone.”

Johnson’s disqualification in Seoul led to Lewis being awarded the gold medal and the world record for his time of 9.92 seconds.

Johnson made similar conspiracy allegations in an interview with an Australian television network in October. He admitted he had been a long-time user of performance-enhancing drugs but said stanozolol was not one of the drugs he had been using.

“Number one, that day the drugs they found in my system were not the drugs I was using,” he said. “Number two, Ben Johnson was sabotaged in Seoul. Somebody set me up.”