U.S. track and field Olympian Tara Davis-Woodhall tested positive for THC, the psychoactive chemical found in cannabis, marijuana and hashish, in a sample collected on Feb. 17, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency reported. This was after Davis-Woodhall won the long jump title with a 6.99-meter jump at the 2023 USA Indoor Track and Field Championship in Albuquerque, New Mexico, earlier this year. 

The agency announced the penalties on Tuesday, including a one-month suspension Davis-Woodhall completed last week. Unfortunately, the penalty did not save her national title, as USADA announced the long jumper would be stripped of any “medals, points and prizes” obtained.

The 23-year-old competed in the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 and finished sixth in the long jump. According to Benzinga, Davis-Woodhall used cannabis while out of competition. In a statement, USADA wrote that Davis-Woodhall’s sample “tested positive…above the urinary Decision Limit.”

THC is a special category of banned substance that results in a three-month sanction if the athlete in question can prove their use of the substance occurred outside of competition and was unrelated to their sports performance. The sanction can further be reduced to one month if the athlete completes an approved treatment program.

This comes almost two years after Sha’Carri Richardson’s dismissal from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics for testing positive for cannabis. Thus, the American sprinter lost her chance to compete at the 2021 U.S. Olympics. Richardson was also under a one-month suspension. Although she had qualified with a 10.86-second 100-meter dash, which would have made her a gold medal contender, Richardson had her title stripped and forfeited her results. 

According to CBS News, USA Track and Field opted not to choose Richardson as part of the women’s 4×100-meter relay pool after she finished her suspension, effectively keeping the Olympic hopeful off the team.

Her ban sparked a media firestorm, igniting debate around whether marijuana should be on the banned list, despite being decriminalized across the U.S. Per AP News, world regulators are consistently updating the banned list and increased the THC threshold for positive tests to match that of pro sports leagues around the world. But the World Anti-Doping Agency still classifies THC as a “substance of abuse” because it is frequently used outside the context of sports.

USADA acknowledged the debate in its statement on Tuesday, deferring to rules set by the World Anti-Doping Agency: “USADA has advocated and will continue to advocate to WADA, the rule maker, to treat marijuana in a fairer and more effective way to identify true in-competition use.”

Twitter reacted as expected, upset by the news and raising questions about the WADA and USADA once more.

As of Wednesday, Davis-Woodhall has yet to publicly address the suspension or post on Twitter since the announcement.

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