Five Canadian Athletes Doping Incidents – Latest Cannabis News Today

Canoeist Laurence Vincent Lapointe is the last Canadian Olympic medalist to become embroiled in a doping controversy. She tested positive for the banned substance ligandrol a year before the Tokyo Games, which can help build and repair muscles. Here’s a look at five previous doping incidents involving Canadian Olympic athletes:

BEN JOHNSON (SPRINTER) – Doping Incident

Substance: stanozolol

In a case that made headlines around the world, Johnson tested positive for the anabolic steroid stanozolol after winning the 100 meters at the 1988 Seoul Olympics in a then record time of 9.79 seconds. He was stripped of his Olympic title and his record was invalidated.

After initially denying any wrongdoing, Johnson admitted doping in the 1989 Dubin Inquiry, a Canadian government investigation into substance abuse. He was also relieved of his 100m title from the 1987 World Championships in Rome after admitting he had taken steroids while preparing for that race.

ROSS REBAGLIATI (SNOWBOARDER) – drug controversy

Substance: THC

Rebagliati was stripped of his giant slalom gold medal from the 1998 Nagano Games after a drug test found traces of THC, the main psychoactive element in cannabis, in his bloodstream. THC was not on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of banned substances at the time, and Rebagliati argued that the substance was the result of secondhand smoke. The decision to withdraw his medal from Rebagliati was eventually overturned.

After the decision, he went on to become a minor celebrity, with a report in Sports Illustrated and an appearance on Jay Leno’s “The Tonight Show”.

SILKEN LAUMANN (RUDER) – doping incident

CP PHOTO / Ron Poling

Substance: pseudoephedrine

Laumann, one of Canada’s most respected amateur athletes, took a brief blow to her reputation when pseudoephedrine, an ingredient in many over-the-counter cold medications, was found in her body after helping Canada win a gold medal in the quadruple skull in the 1995 Pan American Games. The Canadian team was stripped of their medal, but Laumann made a convincing claim that the positive test was the result of a botched prescription from team doctors and it was not suspended by the International Rowing Association.

Laumann, a world champion who rose to fame when she was unlikely to win a bronze medal in the individual scull at the 1992 Barcelona Games despite having broken badly in a rowing accident the previous year, won silver at the 1996 Olympics.

Pseudoephedrine has an inconsistent status among the banned substances. It was removed from the list in 2004 before WADA reintroduced it in 2010.

ERIC LAMAZE (EQUESTRIAN) – doping incident

Substance: cocaine

Lamaze lost his place on the Canadian equestrian team for the 1996 Olympics after receiving a four-year ban for a positive cocaine test. His ban was lifted a year later when an arbitrator ruled that Lamaze’s personal story of growing up on drugs was an extenuating factor in his offense.

Lamaze quickly rebuilt his reputation and became one of Canada’s most decorated jumpers, including an individual gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Games.

RYDER HESJEDAL (CYCLIST) – Doping Controversy

Material: EPO

As the only Canadian to win a prestigious Grand Tour event by winning the 2012 Giro d’Italia, Hesjedal was embroiled in the famous cycling doping scandal that made headlines when Lance Armstrong was stripped of all seven of his Tour de France titles. The United States Anti-Doping Agency claimed Armstrong was the leader of an extensive doping program with erythropoietin (EPO), which is used to stimulate the formation of oxygenated red blood cells.

Disgraced Danish cyclist Michael Rasmussen claimed in his 2013 book “Yellow Fever” that he taught Hesjedal how to use banned substances, including EPO. While Hesjedal did not confirm any specific allegations against him, the two-time Olympian said in a statement: “I sincerely apologize for my part in the sport’s dark past. I will always be sorry. “

“Even if these mistakes happened more than 10 years ago and they were short-lived, it does not change the fact that I made them and live with them and have been sorry ever since.”

The Canadian press