The president of the international track body World Athletics said Tuesday that he supports a review of marijuana's status as a doping substance after American sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson was banned ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, AP reports.
Driving the news: Sebastian Coe said that Richardson's absence is "a loss to the competition" and that a review is now sensible and "it should be" done, per AP.
- "Nothing is set in tablets of stone,” Coe said. "You adapt and occasionally reassess."
Flashback: Richardson, who was set to be one of the faces of Team USA in Tokyo, accepted a one-month suspension after testing positive for marijuana earlier this month.
The big picture: The threshold for what constitutes a positive marijuana test was relaxed after the 2012 London Olympics to make sure that tests discovered in-person use and not smoking days ahead of the competition, per AP.
- “It’s not an unreasonable moment to have a review of it,” Coe said. “The AIU will look at this in the light of current circumstances.”
- WADA updates the prohibited list each year and change could be in place for the 2022 season.
Go deeper: Sha'Carri Richardson tests positive for marijuana, will miss 100-meter race