Wrestler Who Lost Spot for Marijuana Use Says She Thought She Stopped in Time

Wrestler Who Lost Spot for Marijuana Use Says She Thought She Stopped in Time - NYTimes.com

Wrestler Who Lost Spot for Marijuana Use Says She Thought She Stopped in Time - By JOHN BRANCH

The American wrestler Stephany Lee, who qualified for the Olympic team but will miss the London Games after testing positive for marijuana, said that she was a regular user of the drug but that she thought she stopped smoking in time to provide a clean urine sample at the Olympic trials in April.

She said that she quit using marijuana two weeks before the trials — “the longest I ever quit before a competition,” she said — and that she was surprised to learn of the result from the United States Anti-Doping Agency several weeks later.

Lee accepted a one-year suspension from Usada, which made the announcement on Thursday. USA Wrestling has nominated Ali Bernard to take Lee’s place in the 72-kilogram (158½-pound) weight class, subject to the approval of the United States Olympic Committee board.

Bernard, who finished fifth at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, lost to Lee in the final at this year’s Olympic trials in Iowa City.

Lee said she had had 16 consecutive negative tests since 2009, when she tested positive for marijuana at the prestigious United States Open. Lee won that event, too, only to have the title revoked later. She said she stopped using marijuana about five days before that competition.

Since then, Lee said, she usually stopped using marijuana at least a week before a major competition, where athletes are regularly tested for drugs.

Lee celebrated her trials victory by getting married two days later in Iowa to her longtime girlfriend. While she said she did not “fit into the box” of model, marketable Olympians, she stopped short of saying that her homosexuality or previously publicized marijuana use played a role in what she felt was an oddly timed positive test.

“I’m more angry than anything at myself,” Lee said. “I’m disappointed for the people I’ve let down that have been behind me. I’m sad. I could have stopped earlier. I could have prevented this.”

Lee said she used marijuana for medicinal purposes, helping her with insomnia, stomach problems and anxiety. But she has never filed for a therapeutic-use exemption — which athletes who use banned medications can do — assuming Usada would not approve her request. Besides, she reasoned, she never used it at competitions, stopping well short of wrestling meets.

“It’s not performance-enhancing,” she said. “How is this improving my performance?”

In that, her situation recalled that of the Canadian snowboarder Ross Rebagliati, whose gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics was temporarily rescinded when he tested positive for marijuana use. After much debate, he was given the medal back because marijuana, at the time, was not on the list of banned substances.

Which raises the question: Should it be now?

Damn 2 week before? Should've been at LEAST a month for an event of that stature lol

Side note: from the one pic I found when I Googled her, she kinda looks like Shane from The Walking Dead lol

Edited by BombedUp, 01 July 2012 - 09:55 AM.

If you ever watch pawn stars, or are familiar with the Olympic process, you would know you get a special pin for peeing in a cup at the Olympic trials.

This girl deserves a "fucking idiot" pin in commemoration of her stupidity.

May i donate to the healthcare fund for this girl? She was obviously dropped repeatedly as a child on the head. Either that, or she started boxing at the age of 3 days old


IF YOU ARE EVER LUCKY ENOUGH OR TALENTED ENOUGH TO MAKE IT TO THE FUCKING OLYMPICS. LET ME REPEAT THAT, THE FUCKING OLYMPICS. PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD HAVE THE COMMON SENSE TO STOP DOING DRUGS THAT YEAR.....


This society never seizes to amaze me.

I wouldn't quit smoking cannabis to be in the olympics.

It wasn't the first time she's tested positive either. Some people just don't learn.

I don't think this is a case of stupidity but rather a case of indifference. She pretty much knows that this law is nonsensical and chose not to follow it- Some people will protest from afar and go along with the flow of things, and others will go against the grain all together.

She probably didn't feel like competing so she bombed it and is now smoking a fat blunt of olympic kush

She probably didn't feel like competing so she bombed it and is now smoking a fat blunt of olympic kush

Eww she's probably not that stupid for blunts lol... Glass.

Yeah, lets destroy a promising athlete's hopes and dreams by barring her from a once in a lifetime opportunity... for breathing in plant matter. >_>

Edited by GavinGill, 02 July 2012 - 02:01 AM.

Eww she's probably not that stupid for blunts lol... Glass.

Glass > blunts. I'm sure an olympic athlete would know this too.

Glass > blunts. I'm sure an olympic athlete would know this too.

You'd think she'd know to quit a month before too, but then again, she isn't an Olympic athlete, is she?

You'd think she'd know to quit a month before too, but then again, she isn't an Olympic athlete, is she?

No, actually. You're wrong. She made it to the olympic trials and defeated Ali Bernard 2-0 and therefor is an athlete that competed in an Olympic related match...Thus, an olympic athlete.

Take it easy brotha

No, actually. You're wrong. She made it to the olympic trials and defeated Ali Bernard 2-0 and therefor is an athlete that competed in an Olympic related match...Thus, an olympic athlete.

Take it easy brotha

Yep, and I played semi-pro baseball 30 years ago, so I'm a major league athlete. You really aren't that dumb are you?

Disrespect is not tolerated here. Mat369

Edited by M369, 04 July 2012 - 09:12 PM.

Once again, politics dictates reality : /

Yep, and I played semi-pro baseball 30 years ago, so I'm a major league athlete. You really aren't that dumb are you?

If semi-pro baseball mattered in life, sure?

If semi-pro baseball mattered in life, sure?

Son, you're way too short for this sport - the ball's going right over your head.

If semi-pro baseball mattered in life, sure?

Like the Olympics really matter in life either? Lol.

she dumb.

If you ever watch pawn stars, or are familiar with the Olympic process, you would know you get a special pin for peeing in a cup at the Olympic trials.

This girl deserves a "fucking idiot" pin in commemoration of her stupidity.

May i donate to the healthcare fund for this girl? She was obviously dropped repeatedly as a child on the head. Either that, or she started boxing at the age of 3 days old

IF YOU ARE EVER LUCKY ENOUGH OR TALENTED ENOUGH TO MAKE IT TO THE FUCKING OLYMPICS. LET ME REPEAT THAT, THE FUCKING OLYMPICS. PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD HAVE THE COMMON SENSE TO STOP DOING DRUGS THAT YEAR.....

This society never seizes to amaze me.

Quiet ..... Oh not you (yes ,you)

Edited by CaliBudE, 03 July 2012 - 05:17 PM.

Yep, and I played semi-pro baseball 30 years ago, so I'm a major league athlete. You really aren't that dumb are you?

Only thing you play is Xbox