Keywords Sports

Perhaps it is no surprise that the inaugural Olympic year of snowboarding should be tainted by allegations of illicit drugs: the sport is as close to counterculture as the Games have ever dared, full of young iconoclasts sporting blue-dyed hair and nose rings. Rebagliati's defence, after a post-race analysis of his urine found 17.8 nanograms of THC - the hallucinogenic element in marijuana - per millilitre, did little to dispel that stereotype. Yes, he said, he had inhaled, but it was other people's smoke. Rebagliati said he had not smoked marijuana since last April, but he had been exposed to it secondhand while saying goodbye to friends in Whistler on Jan. 31.

Against the judgment of some officials, the Canadian Olympic Association backed up that claim, and immediately appealed the IOC decision. A gutsy move: at a news conference, when COA head Carol Anne Letheren attributed Rebagliati's positive THC tests to "the amount of time Ross spends in an environment where he is exposed to marijuana users," reporters guffawed. But according to Dr. Andrew Pipe, the Ottawa-based chairman of the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport and the man whom COA officials called to back up their appeal, the secondhand smoke argument is at least plausible. Studies done in the late 1980s, he says, suggest that levels comparable to those found in Rebagliati's urine could not be caused by secondhand smoke. But those studies, Pipe notes, used marijuana that had THC levels of 2.5 per cent - and today's pot, especially in British Columbia, can have more than 30 per cent THC. "What is the effect on somebody exposed on a regular basis to high-potency marijuana smoke?" he asks. "It's an intriguing question."

Another question is whether the whole affair could have been avoided. Rebagliati was tested twice last year, in the fall and in mid-December. Both times, the tests found THC, although below the 15-nanogram threshold. Last week, Rebagliati openly wondered why Canadian authorities did not tell him about those results until after he tested positive in Nagano. If he had known, he said, he could have avoided the infamous secondhand smoke.

In the end, his defence did not matter. The crux of the court of arbitration's decision was that the IOC does not have the right to strip a snowboarder of a medal based on a positive marijuana test. Under Olympic rules, marijuana is banned only if the sport's governing body - in this case, the Fédération internationale du ski - specifically says it is. But the court of arbitration found that the FIS had never done so in giant-slalom snowboarding. In other words, a snowboarder can be high as a kite on the hill, and still not be subject to sanctions.

Canadian officials welcomed the decision but were careful not to be seen as pro-pot. "My reaction, like a lot of Canadians', was very positive," said Heritage Minister Sheila Copps in Ottawa. But she added: "This is not a test of character or a test of morality; this is a test of performance-enhancing drugs." Prime Minister Jean Chrétien phoned Rebagliati to express his "100-per-cent support" - after the appeals panel had already ruled. And while some - including the snowboarder's father, Mark - said the affair should make the government rethink the criminalization of marijuana, Solicitor General Andy Scott responded: "I don't think that's a discussion that should be taking place in the context of this particular event."

Letheren, meanwhile, suggested that Rebagliati could emerge from his ordeal as a drug-awareness spokesman - "this is a real opportunity for Ross to show leadership." But in his post-appeal news conference, the snowboarder pointedly said: "I'm not going to change my friends - I don't care what you think about that. My friends are real. I will stand up behind them." Then he added: "I might have to wear a gas mask, whatever."

In a unique way, he has become both a sports and counterculture hero. And he has a staunch fan back in Vancouver. Sylvia Rebagliati hung a Canadian flag on her front door after her grandson phoned with news of the appeal board's decision. Over the years, the chest of drawers in her dining-room has become the repository for all his medals and awards. Will he leave his gold with her this time? "Probably not," she laughs. "I guess he'll put it in a safety deposit box."

Rebagliati, Ross
Ross Rebagliati on course to his Olympic gold medal performance in snowboarding at the Nagano games (courtesy Canadian Olympic Association/photo by Mike Ridewood).

Rebagliati, Ross (with Gold Medal)
Ross Rebagliati with his Olympic gold medal for snowboarding at the 1998 Nagano games (courtesy Canadian Olympic Association/photo by Mike Ridewood).

Party-Town Proud
It was snowing in Whistler, B.C., on the morning Ross Rebagliati was told he could keep his Olympic gold medal. The snow was thick and beautiful, a great carpet for boarding, and the whiteness and newness of it fit the mood of the day, erasing all the palpable anxiety in Rebagliati's home town. For residents of this ski resort, 120 km north of Vancouver, anticipating the decision of the independent sports tribunal "was like sitting in a hospital waiting room," said Whistler Mayor Hugh O'Reilly. His sentiments were echoed by those preparing to spend their day on the slopes. "There is a real feeling of relief," said snowboarder Frank Franchini, having a coffee before heading to the gondola up Whistler Mountain. "Everyone here thought what the IOC did was a joke."

Franchini's view was typical in the town of 8,000 that had loudly decried the International Olympic Committee's decision to strip Rebagliati of his medal because of marijuana traces in his urine. Not only is the blond boarder a local hero, but marijuana is ubiquitous in Whistler, as is alcohol. It is a lifestyle habit - using pot or being around people who do is no big deal. "Maybe Ross changed the world a little bit," said Rebagliati's close friend Graham Turner. "Maybe he helped point out how liberal we've become on the issue."

Whistler, after all, is "a place that attracts party animals," as Turner puts it. There is a lot of money in the sportfishing-centre-turned-ski-resort - hotels in peak season can cost well over $200 a night. Condos - often second residences for skiers from Vancouver or abroad - sell for $280,000 on average. The town's population has doubled since 1989. Half the residents are between 20 and 34 years old, many of them kids on working holidays from Australia, Japan and other parts of Canada. They come to ski, snowboard, drink, smoke dope and find jobs to support their recreation. In fact, so much money is spent on fun that Turner, who operates a store devoted to snowboarding, keeps dozens of boxes of Kraft Dinner in front of the cash register, selling three for 99 cents. "The kids here need to eat," he rationalizes.

But are these kids really forgoing food to spend their money on winter sports, booze and dope? And is marijuana really a problem? "It's just not an issue," O'Reilly says flatly. Nor do locals doubt Rebagliati's contention that secondhand smoke from a Whistler party may have accounted for his positive test. "This is not just a snowboarding thing, it's a ski thing, it's a Whistler thing," said Ken Achenbach, who runs a local snowboarding school. "Even if you don't smoke, you go to a party here and it's pretty much all you're breathing."

In fact, British Columbians in general display a tolerant attitude towards pot smoking. Vancouver is home to the Cannabis Café, a restaurant that uses hemp in its recipes, and Hemp B.C., an in-your-face organization that wants marijuana legalized. An Angus Reid poll taken last November revealed that 63 per cent of B.C. residents believed smoking pot should be legalized, compared with 51 per cent in the rest of Canada. And the country as a whole has become more liberal: a 1987 Reid poll showed that only 39 per cent of Canadians favored decriminalization.

But Rebagliati's friends are convinced he did stop smoking marijuana last April, as he told IOC officials - he would not have risked his Olympic chances. "Ross is an awesome guy," says Achenbach. "He worked so hard to get where he is." Achenbach is concerned that the negative publicity could hurt snowboarding just as the sport has begun to get some respect. "All everyone is going to be saying now is that everyone who snowboards does drugs," he says. "It's so depressing." But Turner figures the threat of Rebagliati losing his medal could have an upside: "Maybe some kids might learn a thing or two, that if you're going to hang around people who do this stuff and you want to be an athlete, maybe you should think about it." In Whistler, the good-time town, such cautionary advice seems likely to go up in smoke.

Maclean's February 23, 1998

Author JOE CHIDLEY with BRUCE WALLACE in Nagano, JOHN DeMONT in Ottawa, DANYLO HAWALESHKA in Toronto and JENNIFER HUNTER in Vancouver, JENNIFER HUNTER in Whistler