Rebagliati Gets to Keep Gold Medal

NAGANO, Japan â€”  “It wasn’t going to be easy getting it back from me, that’s for sure,â€� joked Ross Rebagliati, the Canadian snowboarding champion, who won’t be giving back his Olympic gold medal after all.

A three-member Court of Arbitration for Sport ad hoc panel has ruled that Rebagliati, 26, was unfairly stripped of his medal after testing positive for marijuana.

There were no legal grounds for such a punishment, said Carol Anne Letheren, chief executive officer of the Canadian Olympic Assn., who added, “The athlete should undergo no embarrassment, his performance should be in no way tarnished and in no sense should it be considered overturned on a technicality.�

Marijuana is not banned by the International Olympic Committee as a performance-enhancing drug. Rebagliati claims that “second-hand smoke� accounted for the traces found in his blood test, and that he had not smoked marijuana himself in more than 10 months.

“Up until last April, yes, I had used marijuana occasionally,� Rebagliati admitted here Friday. “It wasn’t something that ruled my life. It was part of my life that is now over. It was a social activity.�

Rebagliati’s gold medal was the first awarded in his sport’s history.

With marijuana not expressly prohibited, a medical board could have recommended to the IOC that Rebagliati either be reprimanded or disqualified. They chose the latter, by a vote of 13-12. An IOC panel concurred, three to two, with two abstentions.

“The IOC was acting on the information that was in front of them,� Letheren said. “When confronted with new information, they did not try to fight it. They listened, understood the situation and acted fairly. I don’t think there’s any need for an apology, from either side.�

Rebagliati was sorry it happened, nevertheless.

“I won the medal. That was the best moment of my life,� he said. “I tested positive. That was the worst moment of my life.

“I’d like to thank all the people who stood by me. Everybody’s been super-supportive.�