The Winter Olympics was hit by a rare drugs case yesterday when a Canadian snowboarding gold medallist was disqualified for using marijuana in a debut by his sport that was meant to show it had come of age.
Canada immediately appealed against the decision to strip Ross Rebagliati of his medal and exclude him from the Games.
It was the first time that a drugs charge had disgraced the Winter Olympics since a Polish ice hockey player tested positive at the 1988 Calgary Games. It was also only the sixth doping case since the Winter Games started in 1924.
The incident, involving the so-called "bad boys" of the fastest growing winter sport, cast a shadow over comeback glory featuring American skier Picabo Street, disappointment and success for host country Japan and a day of events where milliseconds decided winners.
Rebagliati, dressed in jeans and a thick sweater, had a terse "no comment" for dozens of journalists when he arrived at a central Nagano hotel where the IOC-established Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) sat to hear his appeal.
Japanese police said they wanted to question Rebagliati but made it clear they were taking a low profile in a case that set off debate about whether the Olympic movement should be a "social police force" as well as a guardian of fairness in sports by seeking to eliminate performance-enhancing drugs.
IOC director-general Francois Carrard said a ruling on the appeal against Rebagliati's disqualification would be made by an independent court of arbitration in the next 24 hours.
Announcing the disqualification, Carrard said the case had been hotly debated both in the IOC's medical commission and in its ruling executive board.
"The performance-enhancing nature of marijuana is being challenged, it's an ongoing debate," Carrard said.
Canadian team leader Carol Anne Letheren questioned whether the IOC was not going beyond its mandate in banning an athlete for using a drug more likely to hurt than help his racing. "Is, or should, the IOC be a social police force?" she asked.
Rebagliati's crime was that after last Sunday's giant slalom he showed the presence of 17.8 parts per million of cannabis metabolite - just above a 15 ppm threshold set by the International Ski Federation which administers the sport.
Letheren said Rebagliati had not used marijuana for 10 months and if the drug was present it was from passive smoking at a party back home in Canada before he went to Japan.
The controversy drew attention from a remarkable comeback by Street, the American skier who one year ago had to be carried injured on her coach's back down the mountain where yesterday she won the Super-G.
Street's win and a victory by Jonny Moseley in the free-style skiing men's moguls ended a medal drought by the United States. Hosts Japan followed up their first gold medal on Tuesday in speed skating with a win by Tae Satoya in the free-style skiing women's moguls. But there was disappointment for the hosts in the normal hill ski jumping which was won by Finland's Jani Soininen.
Canadian Ross Rebagliati, who has been stripped of his Olympic snowboarding gold medal after testing positive for marijuana, is to be questioned by police in Nagano. A vice squad officer said: "I'm not certain when but it will be today." He added that police may search Rebagliati's room.Possession of marijuana is a serious offence in Japan and carries a maximum five year prison sentence.
