In announcing the ban on Monday, the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) annouced the ban of Cole Walsh (pole vaulter) for failing a dope test for cannabis; also said the 24-year-old had completed it.
American Walsh who was suspended for three months after failing a doping test said the cause was not cannabis, but chocolate.
Walsh, 10th at the last World Athletics Championships in Qatar in 2019, tested positive for carboxy-THC, the main active ingredient in cannabis.
“I ate a chocolate bar containing THC to help me sleep during a flight, I didn’t imagine it would represent enough carboxy-THC in my body to make me positive on a test,” Walsh posted on social media.
Walsh tested positive after finishing third in an indoor meeting in Cottbus, Germany on 29 January, which therefore marked the starting date of his ban.
“Because Walsh has successfully completed an educational programme about his marijuana use, his suspension period has been reduced by three months,” USADA, which initially suspended the athlete for six months, said in its statement.
Although, the school thought in chemists will say : a chocolate labeled as 10 milligrams of THC could have far more effect and send someone to the emergency room with hallucinations.