If the athlete completes an authorized treatment program, USADA said the sanction can be further reduced to one month.
After testing positive earlier this year for the psychoactive substance present in marijuana, US Olympic long jumper Tara Davis-Woodhall had to serve a one-month suspension and had her national indoor title taken away. The 23-year-old University of Texas student, who placed sixth at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, received the penalties on Tuesday, according to the US Anti-Doping Agency. Her suspension was lifted last week, but she also lost the long jump title she won at the indoor nationals just before the sample was taken on February 17.
If an athlete can prove that their use of the substance occurred outside of competition and was unrelated to their ability to perform in sports, they may receive a three-month suspension for using THC, which falls under a special category of prohibited substances. If the athlete completes an authorized treatment program, USADA said the sanction can be further reduced to one month.
After the US Olympic trials in 2021, when 100-meter champion Sha’Carri Richardson had her title stripped and was barred from the Olympics due to a positive test, there was some discussion about whether marijuana should be on the prohibited list. The THC threshold for positive tests has been raised to better align with professional sports leagues around the world, and the banned list is continuously updated. THC is still categorized by the World Anti-Doping Agency as a “substance of abuse” because it is frequently used outside of sports.
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A track and field athlete from the United States, Tara Davis-Woodhall was born on May 20, 1999. She currently holds the junior indoor long jump American record. On February 11, 2017, at the Dumanis Sports Group Prep Classic in Frisco, Texas, she jumped 6.68 m (21 ft 10+3⁄4 in), shattering the previous record. At the Summer Olympics 2021, she finished sixth in the women’s long jump final. Davis is a hurdler as well. On October 16, 2022, she married Paralympian and longtime boyfriend Hunter Woodhall.
She won three events at the CIF California State Meet later that year while competing for Agoura High School. Although a +3.7 mps wind helped, her victory in the 100-meter hurdles in 12:83 broke the national high school record. In all of history, her score is the best. She also broke the long jump state record. She broke Olympian Marion Jones’ 24-year-old record of 6.73 meters with a height of 22 feet, 1 inch. Marion Jones jumped for Thousand Oaks High School, a Marmonte League school, at the time.
At the 2018 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, Davis, a student-athlete at the University of Georgia, ran the 60-meter hurdles in 7.98 seconds, shattering Klaudia Siciarz’s previous record for women under 20. She completed a sweep for the University of Georgia by placing third in the long jump at the same meet. She came in last, after Kate Hall and Keturah Orji. By clearing 7.04 meters to finish second at the Olympic Trials, she earned a spot in the 2020 Summer Olympics. The women’s long jump Olympic final saw her finish in sixth place.
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