Sign my petition to keep Sha’Carri Richardson in the women’s 100 at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics

thunderdome wrote:

You can smoke all the pot you want. Just not at a competition.

I’m not signing this;

1. You have to be stupid to be caught doing this.

2. It is actually performance enhancing. Relaxed is fast. It can take the edge off any pain you might feel during competition.

1. Agreed

2. Really? She has a piss-poor start compared to her late stage acceleration. At best it is a self-canceling effect.

3. The main reason they test for it is because THC is persistent in the fat cells and has a broad test window. Do they test for heroin or alcohol? No... despite those being more destructive drugs and just as likely inducing "relaxation" you are lauding. They are not tested for because they clear the system too quickly is my understanding. If someone has more insight into the pharmacology of testing please chime in.

Thank you iron bars, I was overjoyed with her story and win to achieve and Olympic bid. But she knows the rules and chose to use a banned substance. NO! Sorry, but this needs to be a line. Otherwise, don't have the rule. Another athlete who follows the rules deserves the spot. To the organizers: Stop this silly petition, and instead use your influence to advocate they change the rules banning pot - if that is important to you.

You can also take as much cocaine out of competition as you want. You just can’t be high in competition. Is the advantage on the scale of steroids or epo? No. It is pretty small. There is an advantage though at the right amount. Races are won by hundredths of seconds.

Not getting busted for this is really simple. There is no reason besides being really dumb.

She knew the rules, she made the choice to break them. She's out. No way will I sign your bleeding heart petition. There are far too many cases of Rules for Thee, not for Me.

CoeJo wrote:

No thank you.

This is RoJo's attempt at balanced journalism; he can justify blindly supporting the white Houlihan because he has started a BS petition for the black Richardson. Very transparent.

Also, the only way anyone is going to beat Dina Asher Smith is if they are doped up to the eyeballs. It looks like a few athletes will be.

Do you guys just like to call people racist or something? Seems like it gives some of you a weird pleasure. Strange stuff.

Signed. Good initiative.

100% against marihuana though.

I would sign this if it just called for changing the rules so Richardson (and other athlete with a positive marijuana test) can run. Or maybe they could issue her a fine instead of a suspension. While there may be a performance-enhancing aspect to creating a calmer mental state, I think that's just too uncertain to serve as basis for a ban on performance-enhancing grounds. And she didn't put anyone at risk. If she had been caught driving while high? Sure, because that can hurt someone.

But that onus should be on USATF and WADA, not the other athletes. Asking them to reject a spot offered to them isn't fair to them, and this shouldn't be their responsibility.

No. 🙄

Rules are Rules. If marijuana is worth more then the Olympics then F#$& her let 4th place take her spot.

Glad she's gone.

So you support rule breaking. Is this why my other post was deleted?

This has got to be the dumbest crusade yet from LRC. Asking other 100m runners to give up bonuses, maybe new contracts or salary increases, to let someone slide onto the team with a drugs ban? And they do that out of the goodness of their hearts?

It's also disappointing to see LRC continually adopting a soft line on doping. Every time a US medal contender gets sanctioned, LRC advocates for a rule change. With Coleman it was change the rules so that there's always a warning phone call, with Houlihan it was change the rules to allow more nandrolone to be present in an athlete's system, now it's change the rules to allow THC.

Maybe the rules aren't the problem here, maybe it's the athletes themselves and the enablers around them who are always trying to absolve them of responsibility for their actions

alphas only wrote:

Rojo I’m sorry but this is beyond stupid. I don’t agree with testing marijuana being tested, but if you are not responsible enough to keep weed out of your system during the goddam OLYMPIC TRIALS, frankly you’re probably not responsible enough to represent this country.

Perfectly said.

Based on the responses in this thread, the letsrun posters OVERWHELMINGLY support the BAN. If Rojo did a poll it would be 80% in favor of the ban.

Hey the rules for life aint fair. That's life.

That being said, I think she should be allowed to compete as weed is not a PED.

For those saying MJ is a performance enhancer (by means of inducing relaxation), wouldn't it only be "performing enhancing " if used just prior to your race?

A Brazilian wrote:

I don't smoke weed. But isn't it supposed to make you feel calm and help you controlling anxiety?

Hahaha...most people on this board should smoke weed. What's wrong with feeling calm and free of anxiety? Think about that. Is that such a devastating thing?

Rojo, here's your scenario:

You are presented with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and one of the stipulations is "don't eat bananas". You may think to yourself that everyone eats bananas, they are harmless and that the rule is dumb (all true). On the other hand you know that all you have to do is NOT EAT BANANAS.

She ate the bananas

just a question wrote:

For those saying MJ is a performance enhancer (by means of inducing relaxation), wouldn't it only be "performing enhancing " if used just prior to your race?

Yes. That is why it is only banned in competition. The same a cocaine.