By JIM TAYLOR -- Calgary Sun
So, equestrian Eric Lamaze beats his lifetime suspension for drug abuse because he says he didn't actually take cocaine until the day after he got the word he'd already been banned, and then only because he was so depressed about being suspended in the first place.
Isn't that kind of like the kid who murdered his parents, then asked the judge for mercy on the grounds that he was an orphan?
Give him the benefit of the doubt. Accept his contention that he blew the initial drug test because of something contained in a dietary supplement. Lord knows cough medicines and cold tablets and over-the-counter supplements have done enough damage to indicate that the whole testing process needs to be re-examined.
But when he got the word, he eased the pain with coke.
We are not talking some dewy-eyed innocent here. The guy had already been banned from the Atlanta Olympics for cocaine use. And one day after word of this newest suspension, before any appeal or investigation, he used it again.
OK, he was depressed.
A lot of athletes are depressed in the months leading up to the Olympics. They train for the best part of four years with all the sacrifice that implies, go to the trials, and miss by a second or an inch. They might even tell themselves that if they'd run modified instead of stock, it might have made the difference.
But they don't find their solace in a snort.
The adjudicator who overturned the lifetime ban cited "exceptional circumstances," but added that "remorse, prospects for rehabilitation or other such criteria," did not factor into his decision that the penalty was too harsh.
So what does that leave? A guy with a cocaine addiction.
Cocaine is on the International Olympic Committee's banned substance list. Competitors cannot use it. Eric Lamaze did. End of story.
Late last night, the Canadian Olympic Committee ruled that Lamaze still cannot compete for Canada. It was the proper call, the only call. Because this is bigger than Eric Lamaze. Allow him to compete, and the press release could have been written on a white flag:
"The executive committee of the Canadian Olympic Association today announced that rules of conduct no longer matter and that anyone failing a drug test can be reinstated simply by saying he or she is sorry.
"Everyone deserves a second chance, or in Eric's case, a third. Yes, he was banned from the Atlanta Olympics. Yes, he was suspended. Yes, he flunked another drug test on August 18. Yes, he admits to taking cocaine the day after being informed of the suspension.
"But, hey. He regrets getting caught, and it is the view of the committee that barring him from competition would unfairly penalize his competition partner, the horse, Millcreek Raphael, which has already made the trip to Sydney and suffered the indignities of quarantine and should not be deprived of the right to represent his country in the Olympic Games."
The COA announcement could have ended with a vow to continue the war on substance abuse and called for an education program giving Canadian athletes 'a better understanding of the drugs for which use they will be excused on compassionate grounds should they happen to be found in their system.'
That's the message they'll have sent to all the kids on the way up: that you might as well cheat, because there's no penalty for getting caught.
Sorry, Eric, you're not worth it.
