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From the Olympics Toword Tomorrow
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Sports court overturns IOC marijuana ruling
The independent Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had disqualified Rebagliati even though the IOC has no prohibitions or sanctions for the use of cannabis (marijuana).
''There was an absolute clear reversal,'' said Carol Anne Letheren, the Canadian Olympic Association (COA) chief executive officer. ''The tribunal has clearly stated that there were no legal grounds for the original punishment.''
Rebagliati, 26, Thursday underwent more than five hours of formal questioning with Japanese police, including a search of his hotel room in Shiga Kogen where Canadian snowboarders are staying, police officials said.
''Ross was informed of the decision (at the police station) and when he was told he took the medal out of his pocket and put it on. So he is proudly wearing it,'' Letheren said.
Said Jean-Philippe Rochat, general secretary for CAS, ''This decision is final and binding for all parties, there was no vote, all three arbitrators were unanimous in their decision.''
Rochat said the crux of the issue was that there was no clear agreement between the IOC and International Ski Federation (FIS), the governing body of Olympic snowboarding, concerning regulations regarding the use of marijuana.
''The IOC and FIS in this case have to change the basic rules and they have to specify clearly that marijuana is a forbidden substance or a doping substance,'' Rochat said.
While demanding clear cut regulations on the use of marijuana in sports, both Rochat and Letheren strongly stressed that the decision in no way condoned the use of marijuana.
In his statements to the IOC and CAS, Rebagliati could only explain that the minute amounts of cannabis metabolites found in his urine samples came from inhaling marijuana fumes from marijuana cigarettes smoked by others at a send-off party in his hometown of Whistler, Canada, Letheren said.
He admitted he last directly consumed marijuana in April 1997.
The IOC medical commission said 17.8 nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml) of the cannabis metabolites were found in his urine samples, which were taken immediately after he won the first medal in snowboarding ever offered in Olympic competition on Sunday.
Letheren said that according to medical documentation presented at the hearing, smoking one marijuana cigarette could result in a reading of above 400 ng/ml, while a reading of above 100 ng/ml could be produced from being in a room with up to 10 marijuana smokers for an hour a day, six days in a row.
Letheren said it was uncertain if the COA would demand a written formal apology from the IOC because of the incident.
''Last night's proceedings were quite amicable. There were four groups presenting their own defense -- the COA, IOC, IOC Medical Commission and the FIS -- and each one was heard in a very fair and open fashion,'' she said.
The IOC did not dispute the possibility of secondhand smoke producing the levels of cannabis in Rebagliati's tests, nor did they dispute the medical evidence presented at the appeal or the lack of clarity concerning marijuana use in both IOC and FIS medical code, she said.
''I think that a clarification earlier on in these Games would have certainly helped everybody,'' she said. (Kyodo News)
No part of the article, photographs, or illustrations presented here may be printed or used without permission.
Copyright 1998 The Shinano Mainichi Shimbun