A group of lawmakers has complained, but the case appears to be closed. Richardson accepted her fate with contrition during an appearance last week on the “Today” show.
“Don’t judge me, because I am human. I’m you,” she said. “I just happen to run a little faster.”
Her precise monthlong suspension might just be short enough that she could still compete at the Olympics in the 4×100 meter relay. The Games run from July 23 to August 8.
“Her acceptance of responsibility and apology will be an important example to us all that we can successfully overcome our regrettable decisions, despite the costly consequences of this one to her,” Tygart said in a news release Friday.
Biden can’t change sports doping rules, but he could help change US law. The debate over marijuana is very much on point in the US, where it is more and more accepted after years and years when laws against its use were applied to a disproportionate number of Black Americans.
Cannabis is banned, according to the World Anti-Doping Agency, because it “violates the spirit of sport.”
The story of why marijuana is expressly banned offers some useful context.
Dope not doping. The current male champion in the 100 meters, the American Christian Coleman, will also miss the Tokyo Olympics, because he missed three drug tests in 2019.
The resulting penalty was cut from 18 months to just a year but still included the Olympics.
Great athletes have weathered bans. Swimmer Michael Phelps was banned for three months after pictures of him smoking marijuana from a bong surfaced on the internet. He did not, however, miss any competitions.
Justin Gatlin, the American sprinter who won medals in multiple Olympics, waited out a four-year doping ban and ran in two more Olympics. He suffered an injury last month at the US Olympic trials and narrowly lost out on traveling to Tokyo.
“Right now, I’m being forced to decide between being a breastfeeding mom or an Olympic athlete,” Gaucher had said. “I can’t have them both.”
Japan is holding the Olympics despite warnings from many public health professionals that they should be postponed again or called off. It is enacting strict protocols that limit the number of athletes and coaches who can travel to Tokyo and has removed spectators.
Sports and the spread. There is already evidence that major sporting events do spread Covid. In Europe, the club soccer tournament being held in multiple cities, sometimes with tens of thousands of fans, has already demonstrated what can happen.
Scotland’s health authority said 1,991 people had been identified as attending a Euro 2020 event while infectious, of whom 1,294 had travelled to London and 397 gone to Wembley where England played Scotland.
Finland said more than 300 nationals were infected while supporting their team.
“We need to look at how people get there: Are they traveling in large crowded convoys of buses? And when they leave the stadiums, are they going into crowded bars and pubs to watch the matches?” World Health Organization senior emergency officer Catherine Smallwood said in a statement.
So it will be an Olympics without spectators. And without some of the best athletes.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly described the drugs classified under “schedule 1.”
