Delpopolo ban nonsensical
PETE IORIZZO, COMMENTARY
Updated 7:27 a.m., Tuesday, August 7, 2012
United States' Nicholas Delpopolo looks on during the men's -73kg judo contest of the London 2012 Olympic Games on July 30, 2012 at the ExCel arena in London. AFP PHOTO / FRANCK FIFEFRANCK FIFE/AFP/GettyImages Photo: FRANCK FIFE / AL
Because he tested positive for marijuana, Burnt Hills grad Nick Delpopolo was booted from the Olympics, a penalty that only would make sense if either of the following were true:
-- Delpopolo's Olympic event were the Cheetos-eating competition.
-- A gold medal were awarded to the athlete who can recite the most lines from "Dude, Where's My Car?"
But since I can't think of any way a pot brownie would enhance Delpopolo's performance in judo, the sport in which he placed seventh in his weight class July 30, I have to wonder:
What is the World Anti-Doping Agency smoking?
"I don't understand it," said Delpopolo's father, Dominic. "You know what? Most of those athletes do that stuff. I don't do it. I don't recommend it. But if you take the whole population, it's pretty normal."
When Delpopolo's test came back positive, he became of the first of more than 10,000 London athletes to flunk an in-competition test for a banned substance.
Some other banned substances include muscle-inflating testosterone and endurance-building EPO, drugs that skew the playing field.
But then there's marijuana, a performance inhibitor in all things, save the munchies. There's a reason the Cheech and Chong series didn't include "Feats of Olympic Glory."
Delpopolo released a statement Monday saying he inadvertently consumed the marijuana before he left for London. The pot, he said, had been baked into something he ate, a story many will consider ... um ... half-baked.
Even taking Delpopolo at his word, he bears a certain amount of responsibility. Elite athletes are near-maniacal about what goes into their bodies. Given most baked goods don't contain spinach or parsley, Delpopolo ought to have been more skeptical of whatever pot-infused product he was handed.
He seems to recognize as much, because his statement included an apology to the U.S. Olympic committee, his fans and teammates.
But this isn't a lesson WADA needed to teach him.
WADA's function should be to ensure our Games are played fairly by catching the cheaters, something Delpopolo most certainly is not.
***
The real shame is, the consequences of Delpopolo's positive test go beyond being disqualified from his first Games. He's now subject to worldwide ridicule for something he legally could do in Amsterdam, a six-hour train ride from London.
Before Monday, we knew Delpopolo mostly as a feel-good story: Born in Montenegro, he was adopted from an orphanage by Dominic and his wife, Joyce, who live in Westfield, N.J.
During high school, Delpopolo moved to Glenville to train with Jason Morris, a 1992 Olympic silver medalist.
Morris is a guy so strait-laced he doesn't have a drop of alcohol in his home. One of his pet peeves is teenagers chewing tobacco. If he caught of one of his younger students using marijuana, he'd call the students' parents and have an intervention.
Morris wouldn't criticize WADA testing for pot. He feels too strongly that kids shouldn't be using, anyway.
But he did note that a photo once surfaced of Michael Phelps taking a bong hit, a story line that faded as we grew more interested in his gold than his ganja.
The point: Young athletes do stupid things, like smoke pot.
"It shouldn't define them," Morris said.
It shouldn't get them kicked out of the Olympics, either — unless, of course, the event is a race to the bottom of a Cheetos bag.
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Originally Posted by MightyB
I wonder if there will ever be another in modern athletics.
