(ATR) Shawn Barber inadvertently ingested cocaine during a sexual encounter prior to the Canadian championships but was allowed to compete in the Rio 2016 Olympics.
The decision was made by the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada on Aug. 11 but not released until Oct. 6. The court found Barber had no knowledge that his partner had used cocaine on the night of their encounter and that Barber ingested trace amounts of the substance through kissing.
On July 8, Barber posted an ad on Craigslist for a "casual encounter" with a woman in order to "relieve stress", he says. He met the woman in a hotel room the night before the Canadian Athletics Championship. The meeting was arranged by the woman’s former partner but no exchange of money occurred.
The woman testified to the court that she had snorted cocaine prior to traveling to the hotel and then again in the bathroom before meeting Barber. She says there is no way Barber could have known she had inhaled the prohibited substance. The woman said she testified because she felt "horrible about what happened" and would hate to be the reason for the athlete not achieving his dream.
In his testimony, Barber acknowledged his partner was talkative but attributed it to alcohol consumption as he did not witness her taking the cocaine. Barber had also explicitly asked for the woman to be "drug and disease free" in his ad and assumed he did not need to confirm that she was during their meeting.
Barber would go on to win the pole vault event at the Canadian Athletics Championship the next day and secure his spot in the Rio Games. He was tested after the competition and was shocked to find out he had failed the drug test.
Although the court determined Barber could compete in Rio, his Canadian pole vault title was stripped.
"This has been a learning experience for Shawn, he is a young athlete learning how to compete on the field of play, and prepare away from it," Athletics Canada said in a statement.
Barber was a favorite to reach the podium at the Rio 2016 Games but finished the competition in 10th in the rainy conditions.
Written by Kevin Nutley
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