U.S. Olympic long jumper Tara Davis-Woodhall was stripped of a national title and handed a one-month suspension from competition after testing positive for marijuana early this year, according to reports.
Davis-Woodhall, won gold in the women’s long jump at the 2023 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships held in Albuquerque on Feb. 17 with a jump of 22 feet and 11 inches. But after the event, the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) claimed to have found THC in her blood sample in violation of the World Anti-Doping Code, USADA announced this week.
Olympic long jumper Tara Davis-Woodhall stripped of national title after testing positive for marijuana: USADA https://t.co/B53fB5ebMh
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 26, 2023
“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 substance use occurred out-of-competition and was unrelated to sport performance. The sanction may be further reduced to one month if the athlete satisfactorily completes a treatment program approved by USADA,” the statement read, according to Fox News.
Track & Field Athlete Tara Davis-Woodhall Accepts Sanction for Anti-Doping Rule Violation https://t.co/IFSRuEK1dc
— USADA (@usantidoping) April 25, 2023
“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 of abuse treatment program regarding her use of cannabis,” the agency added.
The athlete’s suspension began on March 21 and was completed a month later.
Davis-Woodhall is the second Olympian to face consequences for pot use in the last few years. In 2021, Olympic 100-meter winner Sha’Carri Richardson was both stripped of a title and lost her place at the Olympics after testing positive for the drug.
Tara Davis, second place in the Women’s Long Jump Final, celebrates with boyfriend and Paralympian Hunter Woodhall on day nine of the 2020 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Team Trials at Hayward Field on June 26, 2021, in Eugene, Oregon. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
The USADA has appealed to the WADA to remove cannabis from its banned substances list. But to no avail.
Last year, the World Anti-Doping Agency rejected calls to remove cannabis from its list of banned substances for athletes.
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