Many letters this week, so a short “Page Two.” Now, I could write about the upcoming SXSW/Music Awards maelstrom (March 13-21, Awards Show Wed.18), but you already know that stuff, right?
Or I could intro the cover stories, a nice package about regional planning, demographic shifts, and the upcoming Travis Co. primary elections (pp.16-28). But that actually stands quite well on its own and, after all, the cover provides the best invitation into the section. If you wanted to read that right now, you’d already be there. No, you’re looking for something a little different.
I know, how a list of my favorite quotes so far to come out of the Ross Rebagliati affair? (Rebagliati is the Canadian snowboarder who’s been stripped of his Olympic gold medal – pending appeal – for testing positive for marijuana.)
First the lighter side:
* Rebagliati reportedly told officials he had not used marijuana since April 1997, and that the positive test was due to “the significant amount of time that Ross spends in an environment where he is exposed to marijuana.”
* Or, as “Stig” put it in a posting to the Internet newsgroup, rec.skiing.snowboard: “Shock, horror; Snowboarder fails drugs test. Wouldn’t the IOC save loads of cash by just testing for being negative?”
* The AP noted that while “marijuana is not traditionally considered performance-enhancing,” the Olympic director general who announced the disqualification said that he had been “told that in some situations, it could be.”
And the not-so-light side:
* That same official, when asked whether he thought stripping an athlete of a gold medal for marijuana use was harsh, said, “I cannot express any personal opinion on this matter.” But he did add that the IOC board vote was 3-2, with two members abstaining, after the medical commission voted 13-12 in favor of recommending action to the IOC governing body.
* Noting that the 17.8 parts per million detected in Rebagliati’s blood is a very small amount, Casey Wade, director for drug-free sports at the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sports, told Canada Press that “In workplace testing, we used to have a level of 20, and we used to have a lot of `false positives’ where people were getting readings just from consuming second-hand smoke.” The standard has since been raised to 50ppm.
* Amid myriad postings like “Stick one up the IOC,” and “CONGRATULATIONS ROSS on your gold!: don’t let jealous nobodies like this get you down,” and rumors of other boarders planning to refuse their medals, the prevelant sentiment on the ‘net is summed up by one Art Armfield: “I suspect pretty strongly that the IOC is trying to break down snowboarders (or snowboarders’ `independent spirit’) as much as they can.”
Rebagliati claims that he was around a number of pot smokers during his farewell party on New Year’s Eve. That seems largely consistent with the low level in his blood, but it’s also largely beside the point. Which is: the Olympic Committee has a legitimate interest in regulating lots of different things. But clearly, Rebagliati’s pot intake had no bearing on the snowboarding Giant Slalom competition, and that’s where the IOC’s legitimate interests end.
What people do on their own time should be their own business – in Nagano,or Austin, or even Washington, D.C. But people always have to fight for personal freedoms. And sometimes you find serious fights in funny places.
Ross, you rule, dude.
This column was produced with the aid of a wide variety of performance-enhancing substances.
This article appears in February 13 • 1998 and February 13 • 1998 (Cover).