Ex-Sprinter Johnson Loses Dash for Cash From News Services and Staff Reports Thursday, July 13, 2000; Page D02 Ben Johnson, once the world record holder in the 100-meter dash, yesterday sprinted after somebody who robbed him of $4,736 in Rome, but the thief outran him. Johnson said he was about to walk into a currency exchange on the city's elegant Via Veneto when he was approached by a woman and a girl. While the girl distracted him with pleas for money, the woman picked his pocket and took off with his wallet. He caught the girl, but the woman got away. She had a 15-second start on Johnson. "I caught the wrong person," Johnson said. "The young girl was holding my hand, and that's when [the woman] went in my pocket. . . . It was my fault, too, putting that kind of money in my wallet." Johnson, 38, was stripped of his 1988 Olympic gold medal after testing positive for steroids. ------------------ "Is this thing on? I'm in charge now"-Alexander Haig
