National Post (National Edition)
Curling world rocked by failed drug test, gets behind Harris
There are few things that would raise more eyebrows in the curling world than this bombshell news. After all, doping scandals don't belong on the pebble any more than fist fights or line brawls do.
That's for other sports to deal with.
Across the country, the Briane Harris Affair is also drawing a flood of empathy for the 32-year-old Winnipegger at the heart of the story.
“To firstly clear your name and secondly be able to curl again, that's my wish and hope for her,” six-time Canadian champ Colleen Jones said from her home in Nova Scotia.
“And just knowing that she's always been a standup, good person, it was such a shock to start with.”
Harris is the lead for Team Kerri Einarson, the fourtime Canadian championship team that fell short of a fifth straight title in Calgary last month.
By now you've heard Harris was disqualified at the last minute from competing in Calgary.
Tuesday, Harris herself ended the speculation, acknowledging she failed a drug test administered in late January. It took a while for the initial result to be confirmed.
“This can't be an easy situation, by any means, to go through,” Manitoba men's skip Ryan Wiebe said. “The curling community, we're rallying behind her. We feel for her. Hopefully, this all gets cleared up pretty soon.”
Harris says she went public because she didn't want her silence to be interpreted as guilt. She's vowing to appeal the ruling and clear her name, saying she hasn't knowingly taken anything.
If this were a weightlifter, world-class sprinter or even a pro football player, eyes would roll in unison. We've all heard that before.
But it's a curler. “Substance abuse in curling is not really something that comes up very often,” said Wiebe, the skip of one of Manitoba's up-and-coming teams.
“I'm 23 years old and we've never even heard of a case of this happening. And when the news came out it's so surprising. All our group chats were going off. You're all like, `What is going on?' We don't know what to say.
“First and foremost, you just feel bad for Briane.”
That's often lost in these stories: the personal price.
The curling world is a tight-knit fraternity. Everybody playing the game at the highest levels, with the same ultimate goal, can at least try to put themselves in Harris' shoes.
Given the potential fouryear suspension, her 2026 Olympic dream hangs in the balance.
“That's something that people prepare for every four years,” said Jordon McDonald, another young Manitoba skip. “It's a lot of time and effort that goes into that. Countless hours. For Briane and a lot of curlers, curling is our life. So when something like that happens, it's really devastating. It'll be hard.”
“My gut hurt,” Jones added. “Because that's not quite career-ending, but pretty close to career-ending.”
It's not the first time the Roaring Game has been rocked like this.
At the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, Russian curler Alexander Krushelnitskiy and his wife lost their bronze medal when he tested positive for a banned substance.
The reaction was predictable.
“Most people will laugh ... what would you possibly need doping for?” Danish women's skip Madeleine Dupont said at the time.
Canada's Brent Laing put it another way, saying beer and Advil were the only substances he'd heard of curlers using.
Not everybody was shocked, though. Because, you know, Russia.
In Canada, cheating isn't part of the system.
And this is the game of courtesy and honesty. Accidentally kick their own rock, and curlers come clean. They wouldn't dare start sweeping an opponent's rock until it reaches the tee line, either.
Risk doping to get an edge in sweeping?
“If you're in a fighting sport and there's an opponent that's doping, yeah, you might want him out of the sport,” Wiebe said. “We have no place for that. But Briane's not that person. This is most likely a complete fluke that this happened. We support Briane in this 100 per cent.
“It's just crazy.”
Harris' lawyer says the only thing that even begins to make sense at this point is that she was exposed to the substance through “bodily contact.”
We know a Canadian canoeist tested positive for the same thing a few years ago and successfully argued it came from a former boyfriend, through either sweat, saliva or semen.
Don't think players across the country, including Wiebe, haven't checked Ligandrol on the internet.
“I guess at the top level that's what you've got to start thinking,” he said. “Right now I'm just worried about what I put in my own body. But now, having to worry about your significant other ... it's a whole other crazy realm to get into.”
One good thing did come out of Tuesday: Some clarity.
“There was so much speculation in the court of public opinion,” Jones said. “So to get some clarity that she's actively fighting it ... you don't see a lot of positive tests overturned. But there's a hope that they can fight it.
“I would think the first thing anybody wants to do is clear your name. You only get one reputation.”