Doping: Five prominent incidents involving Canadians athletes

Canoeist Laurence Vincent Lapointe is the latest Canadian Olympic medal hopeful to get caught up in a doping controversy. She has tested positive for the banned substance Ligandrol — which can help build and repair muscles — a year out from the Tokyo Games. Here five other Canadian athletes who have been involved in doping incidents: á Ben Johnson, sprinter: In a case that made headlines worldwide, Johnson tested positive for the anabolic steroid stanozolol after winning the 100 metres at the 1988 Seoul Olympics in a then-record time of 9.79 seconds. He was stripped of his Olympic title and his record was voided. After initially denying any wrongdoing, Johnson admitted to doping in the 1989 Dubin Inquiry, a Canadian government investigation into drug abuse. á Ross Rebagliati, snowboard

er: Rebagliati had his giant slalom gold medal from the 1998 Nagano Games rescinded after traces of THC were found in his bloodstream following a drug test. THC was not on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of banned substances at the time, and Rebagliati argued the substance was the result of second-hand smoke. The decision to strip Rebagliati of his medal was eventually overturned. á Silken Laumann, rower: One of Canada’s most respected amateur athletes, Laumann suffered a brief hit to her reputation when pseudoephedrine, an ingredient in many over-thecounter cold medications, was found in her system after she helped Canada to a gold medal in quadruple skulls at the 1995 Pan Am Games. The Canadian squad had its medal stripped, but Laumann made a convincing case that the positive test was the result of a botched prescription by team doctors, and she was not suspended by rowing’s international governing body. She went on to win a silver at the 1996 Olympics. á Eric Lamaze, equestrian: Lamaze lost his spot on Canada’s equestrian team for the 1996 Olympics after receiving a four-year ban for a positive cocaine test. His ban was overturned a year later when an arbitrator ruled that Lamaze’s personal story of growing up around drugs was a mitigating factor to his offence. Lamaze has become one of Canada’s most decorated jumpers, with an individual gold medal at the 2008 Games in Beijing.

á Ryder Hesjedal, cyclist: The 2012 Giro d’Italia winner was caught up in cycling’s famous doping scandal that made headlines when Lance Armstrong was stripped of his Tour de France titles. Danish cyclist Michael Rasmussen alleged in his 2013 book Yellow Fever that he taught Hesjedal how to take banned substances, including EPO. While Hesjedal did not confirm any specific allegation against him, the two-time Olympian said in a statement: “I sincerely apologize for my part in the dark past of the sport. I will always be sorry.”