American lawyer Rich Young gave an interesting insight into the case of Canadian snowboarder Ross Rebagliati, who was first stripped of his gold medal after traces of marijuana were found in his system, and then had it restored. This week Young told of what went on behind the scenes in Nagano.
The drug is not on the list of banned substances under Olympic rules, but it seems that the initial threat to Rebagliati was an attempt by the panel considering the case, of which Young was a member, to make the point that the IOC does not condone the taking of illegal drugs.
What was bizarre about the case, however, was the defence offered by the athlete's representative, a prominent Canadian lawyer, who attempted to persuade the panel that the drug had not been taken immediately before the competition.
"The pot in Whistler, BC (Rebagliati's home town), is so good," Young recalls it being claimed, "that you can test positive for it days later just from having been in the room." Not, Young pointed out, the sort of argument that most lawyers would like to find themselves having to make.
Still, neither the IOC nor the skiing federation had made provisions for punishing competitors testing positive for the drug, and both have now decided to look more closely at the matter (using for research purposes, no doubt, a stash brought in from Whistler).
There were somewhat puzzling comments from IOC officials this week, meanwhile, regarding the organisation's reluctance to get into the area of blood testing at the next summer games.
Such tests are already used by the organisers of certain events in a limited number of sports, and there been pressure on the IOC to adopt them from a variety of groups, not least swimming officials in Canada, Australia and the US.
In a strange interpretation of the available evidence, however, IOC member Kevan Gosper said this week that it had yet to be proven that such tests revealed anything that urine tests did not, and that it was therefore unlikely that they would be employed in Sydney.
European tennis stars complain regularly about the behaviour of partisan crowds in other parts of the world. Even our own international players have been heckled, jeered and screamed at on some of their recent trips to north Africa after finding themselves on the same court as a local player.
When Spain played Brazil in the Davis Cup a few weeks ago, though, things were particularly bad, and the Spanish media gave extensive coverage to the complaints of the country's stars, who eventually won the match 3-2, when they returned home from Porto Alegre.
It was hardly surprising then that the local fans were in boisterous mood this week when Brazilian stars Gustavo Kuerten and Fernando Meligeni came to town for the Barcelona Open.
Both men complained after straight-sets defeats by Spaniards that they had been put off by the behaviour of the spectators, although there was at least a hint that they had expected problems.
"After the doubles I thought it could happen," said French Open champion Kuerten, after he and Meligeni had been abused from beginning to end of their first round match, which they lost to a Czech/ Romanian partnership.
All of this certainly delighted former world number one Thomas Muster, who has been trying to prevent any further Davis Cup matches being played in Brazil since getting a taste of the local hospitality himself a couple of years ago.
"It is ridiculous that they play in Brazil," said Muster. "I've spoken to the ITF (International Tennis Federation) about it. Everybody comes back from Brazil saying the same."
A new club intended to cater especially for Irish international tennis players will be formally established at Donnybrook LTC this afternoon, where many of the finest players to represent this country will gather.
Peter Ledbetter, Bernadette Griggith and Tommy Burke are amongst the founding committee members of the International Lawn Tennis Club of Ireland, membership of which will be restricted to those who have played for Ireland.
Geraldine and Harry Barniville, Alan Haughton and Viv Gotto are also expected to attend the club's first meeting, and it is intended, weather permitting, to mark the occasion with a few friendly games.
The club's first competitive outing is likely to be towards the end of the summer, when they are expected to send a team to Edgbaston to play England, while next year a team including Sean Sorensen and Matt Doyle is expected to take part in international week at the All England Club, a tournament involving all 33 international clubs from around the globe.
Web news this week centres on the establishment of a Paul McGrath Testimonial Site. Located at http://www.pmcgrath.ie, the site recounts the highlights of the great defender's career, carries news on the forthcoming match, offers the opportunity to send messages to the man himself and will run competitions for free tickets.
Please send any correspondence to On The Sidelines, Sports Dept, The Irish Times, 11-15 D'Olier Street, Dublin 2, or e-mail emalone@irish-times.ie
Long after the end of his outstanding playing career at Celtic, Billy McPhail was this week trying to establish in a British court that he had received brain damage from repeatedly heading the old, leather balls. It's a sad situation for the 70-year-old McPhail to find himself in. But were he to be successful, his case might pave the way for a flood of similar cases from other players, including the likes of Paul Gascoigne, Vinny Jones and Julian Dicks, all of whom may claim that the weight of the ball didn't make any difference.
