Kissing contamination defence clears French Olympic fencer Thibus in doping appeal case
Article content
The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling echoed a verdict clearing another French athlete with a similar defense in a doping allegation — tennis player Richard Gasquet in the celebrated 'cocaine kiss' case in 2009.
Article content
Article content
Article content
CAS said in the Thibus case its judging panel dismissed an appeal by the World Anti-Doping Agency, which asked for her to be banned for four years.
Article content
Thibus tested positive for the anabolic substance ostarine in January 2024. She was later cleared by an International Fencing Federation tribunal weeks before the Paris Olympics, which let her compete there.
Article content
WADA challenged the explanation that Thibus was contaminated 'through kissing with her then partner, who had been using a product containing ostarine without her knowledge,' CAS said.
Article content
The court said Monday 'it is scientifically established that the intake of an ostarine dose similar to the dose ingested by Ms Thibus' then partner would have left sufficient amounts of ostarine in the saliva to contaminate a person through kissing.'
Article content
The CAS judges 'accepted that Ms. Thibus' then-partner was taking ostarine from Jan. 5, 2024, and that there was contamination over nine days with a cumulative effect.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Globe and Mail
4 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Wheelchair rugby legend Garett Hickling was Canada's flag bearer at the 2012 Paralympics
Garett Hickling wheeled into the Olympic Stadium in London before hoisting a large Canadian flag with his left hand. The wheelchair rugby legend was given the honour of leading 145 athletes, 12 support personnel and 134 officials as Canada's flag bearer at the 2012 Paralympics, a highlight in a career that included four Paralympic medals and a world championship gold medal. 'He is one of the most feared athletes in the sport,' chef de mission Gaétan Tardif said at the time, 'yet also exceptionally humble.' Mr. Hickling, who has died at 54, competed in every major international wheelchair rugby tournament in a 20-year span from 1995 until 2015. With a goatee and long, straggly blond hair, Mr. Hickling stood out as a rampaging warrior even among the rough characters who populate the sport. Wearing uniform No. 5 and nicknamed G, he gained a reputation as a ferocious competitor in a sport originally known as murderball. A prototype of the sport's power forward, he earned comparisons to hockey's Wayne Gretzky for his uncanny ability to anticipate a play, whether intercepting an opponent's pass or finding open space on the court. Wheelchair rugby is a contact sport not for the fainthearted, as athletes bash into one another in wheelchairs modified to look like chariots from a Mad Max movie. Fierce collisions sometimes result in spills with quadriplegic competitors using hands, elbows or shoulders to break a fall, depending on their impairment. Bruises, muscle strains and painful scrapes to limbs are common. 'Injuries? A few split eyes, stitches, cuts, concussions, fingers, even a broken arm here and there,' Mr. Hickling told Gary Kingston of the Vancouver Sun in 2004. Mr. Hickling also needed to have his neck surgically realigned that year, ripped his left triceps muscle four years later and separated his right shoulder a year before he served as Paralympic flag bearer. Like many athletes in the sport, Mr. Hickling took up wheelchair rugby after suffering a catastrophic injury. On a February weekend in 1987, police in Kelowna, B.C., responded to a report of minor vandalism in a subdivision. After spotting a police cruiser, three teenagers hopped a fence surrounding a golf course before making their way up Dilworth Mountain. An officer with a tracker dog pursued the trio up the mountain. One of the boys later testified that they panicked when they saw a flashlight and heard a dog. The three changed direction, slipping down a gully and over a 60-metre cliff. A coroner's inquest later learned that an officer reported over the police radio: 'We just chased a guy down the gully here.' Darren Michael Gendron, 15, a Grade 10 student, died minutes after the fall from massive internal bleeding. Another 15-year-old boy suffered cuts, as well as a broken arm and leg. Mr. Hickling suffered a broken neck. The inquest declared the incident an accident and offered no recommendations. As part of his rehabilitation, Mr. Hickling tested a variety of sports, including swimming, wheelchair track and wheelchair basketball. After moving to Vancouver to attend the British Columbia Institute of Technology, he tried wheelchair rugby. 'I knocked a guy out of his chair,' he once said, 'and never looked back.' The sport, which was invented in Winnipeg, is played four aside indoors with a volleyball on a basketball court, featuring picks like basketball and blocking like football. Goals are scored by having possession of the ball while crossing the goal line with both wheels. Players are classified from 0.5 (the most impairment) to 3.5, with all four players on the floor not to exceed a combined eight. Mr. Hickling was rated 3.5, meaning he had high functional ability. The sport's tenacity and fast pace was captured in the 2005 documentary Murderball, which features the intense rivalry between the Canadian and American national teams. A bitter contest for the world championship in Sweden in 2002 ended with Mr. Hickling scoring the winning goal to give Canada the gold medal. He was named the tournament's most-valuable player, an honour he also won in 1995 and 1998. Mr. Hickling and his Canadian teammates won silver at the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta, when rugby was a demonstration sport. He won silver at the 2004 Paralympics in Athens and bronze in 2008 in Beijing. In London in 2012, Canada defeated the Americans in the semi-finals only to lose 66-51 to Australia in the finals. Mr. Hickling, participating in his fifth Games at age 42, scored seven goals in the championship game in claiming another silver medal. He won five world championship medals (one gold, two silver, two bronze), as well as a gold at the sport's debut at the Parapan American Games in Toronto in 2015. After his playing days ended, he moved to Toronto where he coached local and provincial athletes, including members of the Toronto Titans club, who compete on an Ontario circuit including the Ottawa Stingers, the London Annihilators and the Quinte West Quadzillas. He served as an assistant coach for the Canadian team at the 2024 Paralympics in Paris. Garett Deane Hickling was born in the B.C. village of Mica Creek on Sept. 18, 1970, to the former Donna Elaine Deane and John Hickling, a carpenter. The village boomed during the construction of a nearby hydroelectric dam on the Columbia River for which John Hickling served as a general foreman. In Grade 1, the boy wrote that he had been born underwater since the village had been moved after the dam flooded the old site. Mr. Hickling died suddenly on June 20 of an unknown cause in Toronto, according to his family. He leaves his father and stepmother, Carolyn, as well as sisters Jeri-Lynne Hickling and Tobi Byrne. He was predeceased by his mother, who died of lung cancer in 2016, aged 69, and by an older brother, Donald Earl Hickling, who died at age nine in 1975 of meningococcus, a serious bacterial infection. In 2016, Mr. Hickling was inducted into the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame in Vancouver. He has also been named to the halls of fame for Canadian Wheelchair Rugby, Central Okanagan Sports and the Canadian Paralympic Committee. In 2018, he was one of the four inaugural inductees into the World Wheelchair Rugby Hall of Fame. Among the many tributes and accolades raised in his name after his death, long-time friend and teammate David Willsie recalled one incident that captured Mr. Hickling's leadership after a rival took liberties with one of Mr. Hickling's young and inexperienced teammates. 'Garett delivered one of the hardest fouls I've ever seen,' Mr. Willsie said. 'That's the best in the world standing up for a teammate.' You can find more obituaries from The Globe and Mail here. To submit a memory about someone we have recently profiled on the Obituaries page, e-mail us at obit@
Winnipeg Free Press
5 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
All Blacks make 3 changes for the 2nd test against France
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson has made three changes to his lineup for Saturday's second test against France, confirming Ardie Savea as captain in place of the injured Scott Barrett. Patrick Tuipulotu will take Barrett's place in the second row while Caleb Clarke comes in on the left wing in place of Sevu Reece who suffered a grade one head knock in the first minute of the first test. Rieko Ioane moves from the left to the right wing and uncapped Highlanders center Timoci Tavatavanawai joins the reserve bench. Robertson was expected to make more changes after a dire first test performance in which the All Blacks scraped home 31-27 against a French team stripped of most of its Six Nations stars. Ioane is lucky to retain his place in the starting lineup after a poor first test performance. His failure to secure the kickoff at the start of the second half led directly to a France try. Robertson has also retained Beauden Barrett at flyhalf, though Barrett's tactical kicking game in the first test was flawed and New Zealand was unable to win recoverable kicks. 'Test series are a unique and exciting opportunity,' Robertson said. 'Both teams now have a better idea of what they're going to get on Saturday night and both will lift for this next occasion. 'We know where we need to improve.' Improvement is needed across the board unless the All Blacks are to produce another of the rudderless performances that have become typical during Robertson's tenure. New Zealand was beaten by France in the aerial contest in the first test at Dunedin. The selection of Clarke may help with that. There was also a lack of physicality at the breakdown which the All Blacks will have to find on Saturday to prevent another close finish. Robertson has retained lock Fabian Holland and backrower Christian Lio-Willie who made solid debuts last weekend. First test debutants Ollie Norris and Du'Plessis Kirifi have also been retained among a 5-3 split on the bench. ___ New Zealand: Will Jordan, Rieko Ioane, Billy Proctor, Jordie Barrett, Caleb Clarke, Beauden Barrett, Cam Roigard; Christian Lio-Willie, Ardie Savea (captain), Tupou Vaa'i, Fabian Holland, Patrick Tuipulotu, Fletcher Newell, Codie Taylor, Ethan de Groot. Reserves: Samisoni Taukei'aho, Ollie Norris, Pasilio Tosi, Samipeni Finau, Du'Plessis Kirifi, Cortez Ratima, Timoci Tavatavanawai, Damian McKenzie. ___ AP rugby:
Toronto Sun
5 hours ago
- Toronto Sun
Just for Laughs founder says his life has been ruined by sex assault allegations
Published Jul 09, 2025 • 1 minute read Gilbert Rozon briefly spoke with reporters during a break in his civil case at the Montreal courthouse June 4, 2025. Allen McInnis/Montreal Gazette MONTREAL — Just for Laughs founder Gilbert Rozon says he's been treated like a pariah in the eight years since he was publicly accused by multiple women of sexual assault. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The disgraced former comedy mogul says the allegations have ruined his life and cost him his company. Rozon is being sued by nine women for a total of nearly $14 million in damages over allegations of sexual assault and misconduct. He said outside a Montreal courtroom Wednesday that he regrets not 'writing cheques' to the women years ago instead of fighting the allegations in court. Rozon says the plaintiffs have formed a coalition against him with the aim of getting money. He says he's become a symbol of the #MeToo movement, and that the judge is under 'colossal media pressure' as she considers the case. RECOMMENDED VIDEO Toronto & GTA Olympics Columnists Toronto Maple Leafs Basketball
