Linford Christie's heartbreaking phone call to dad after failed drugs test at Olympics

Linford Christie spoke of making a sorrowful call to his dad after failing a drug test at the Seoul Olympics in 1988.

The acclaimed athlete tested positive for the banned stimulant pseudoephedrine after participating in the 200m race, claiming he had inadvertently taken it when drinking ginseng tea. The 64-year-old had already secured the silver medal in the 100m, following Canada's Ben Johnson's disqualification as he was found guilty of a positive drugs test.

Christie, who set a new European record with his time of 9.97 seconds in the race, ended up being awarded the gold medal after Carl Lewis displaced Johnson. An emotional phone call Christie made to his dad upon hearing the news is featured in a new BBC documentary, titled 'Linford'.

He recalls telling his father that he was "completely innocent" and expressed his shock over the statements made about him, emphasizing that he had "never taken drugs".

The British-Jamaican sportsman explained: "They say drugs and therefore everybody starts thinking he's injecting something into his body. It hurt, you know, because I knew I didn't do anything, I didn't intentionally take anything," reports the Mirror.

In defence of Christie, a medical commission of the International Olympic Committee convened to consider submissions from the British team. The footage in the documentary illustrates Christie arriving at the hotel to defend himself before the Olympic medical committee.

He recounted the ordeal: "You can't sleep, you're just waiting. The process was horrible, you explain your side of the story to them and everything else, they ask you where did it come from and you don't know.

"'What did you take? ' You've got to tell them everything you've taken. We can only think that it came from the Ginseng that I bought out there.

"When you're that side of the world they put stuff in the supplement that you don't even know. Eventually they voted on whether I was innocent or guilty."

After a tense deliberation, Christie was given the nod by the slimmest of margins, with an 11 to 10 vote granting him the "benefit of the doubt". Overwhelmed with emotion after the decision, Christie went on to triumph in the Olympic 100m in 1992 before hanging up his spikes on the international stage in 1997.

The shadow of controversy lingered as Christie tested positive for nandrolone in 1999. Although initially cleared by UK Athletics, the IAAF wasn't convinced and slapped him with a two-year ban.

Despite consistently maintaining his innocence, the nandrolone levels found in Christie's system were some of the highest on record. His career post-scandal was marred by a lifetime ban from the British Olympic Association.