Olympic long jumper gets stripped of her national title after testing positive for marijuana
Rachel Lang
Featured Image Credit: ZUMA Press Inc / Alamy Stock Photo. Instagram/diamondleagueathletics
An American long jumper has been stripped of a national title and ordered to complete a one-month suspension after the Olympian tested positive for THC earlier this year.
The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced the grim news for Tara Davis-Woodhall earlier this week.
The update comes after the Tokyo Olympian took home the top prize in the women’s long jump event at the 2023 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Albuquerque on February 17.
She won gold with a magnificent leap of 22-feet-11-inches, or 6.9 meters.
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Later that day Davis-Woodhall tested positive for THC.
The Olympian was found to be in violation of the World Anti-Doping Code and was stripped of her national title.
A statement released by USADA read: "In the 2021 Code, THC is classified under a special category that allows for a reduced three-month sanction if the athlete establishes that their use of the substance occurred out-of-competition and was unrelated to sport performance."
It continued: "The sanction may be further reduced to one month if the athlete satisfactorily completes a treatment program approved by USADA.
Davis-Woodhall’s one-month period of ineligibility is the minimum allowed under the rules and the the date of her provisional suspension started on March 21.
Additionally, the 23-year-old athlete has been disqualified from all competitive results obtained on February 17, the date her positive sample was collected.
That disqualification also means she will forgo any medals, points and prizes obtained on that day.
USADA continued: "Davis-Woodhall’s period of ineligibility was reduced to one month because her use of cannabis occurred out-of-competition and was unrelated to sport performance, and because she successfully completed a substance abuse treatment program regarding her use of cannabis."
Under the rules, cannabis, marijuana and hashish are all considered banned substances.
Davis-Woodhall’s suspension comes weeks after everyone's favorite stoner, Snoop Dogg, praised the National Basketball Association for looking at dialling back their own marijuana ban.
"As long as it doesn’t enhance your skills to make you play better or to give you an advantage, you should be able to treat yourself and to heal yourself," he told ESPN's Stephen A. Smith and Jalen Rose.
Other sports governing bodies have also made major shifts on their anti-doping policies – the UFC being one of them.