Source: JAVIER SORIANO / Getty
Unbeknownst to track and field fans everywhere until this week, star athlete Tara Davis-Woodhall was stripped of the indoor national title she scored in February because of a positive cannabis test.
The 23-year-old Olympian was additionally put on a one-month suspension from her sport, according to a statement the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) released April 25.
Tara took the drug test after she achieved her long jump title at this year’s USA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The sample was collected on February 17, the same day as her championship win, where she made a 6.99-meter jump. For context, the length of her long jump encompassed 22.93 feet.
The track star’s suspension began March 21. Despite the sanction usually being three months, Davis-Woodhall got her penalty reduced because she agreed to complete a drug treatment program for marijuana use successfully.
The anti-doping agency said that Tara’s suspension was also shortened because the athlete’s marijuana use “occurred out-of-competition and was unrelated to sport performance.”
USADA explained that it’s not in charge of setting the global standard on doping policies despite its advocacy for a review of how marijuana use is identified in athletes.
“The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) seeks input on each year’s updated version of the Prohibited List. USADA has advocated and will continue to advocate to WADA, the rule maker, to treat marijuana in a fairer and more effective way to identify true in-competition use.”
Cannabis, marijuana and hashish are all “specified substances in the class of Cannabinoids” and prohibited for competing athletes in protocols adopted by many national and global organizations.
Tara has already made a significant mark in the sports world.
The 5-foot-4 University of Texas alum was the first woman in the educational institution’s history to clear 22 feet in the long jump, according to Team USA.
She won a gold and silver medal for her efforts at the 2017 Pan American U20 Championships, USA Track & Field reported.
The Arkansas native made her Olympic debut at the 2021 Tokyo Games and placed sixth in her specialty, the women’s long jump competition. Infamously, fellow track and field athlete Sha’Carri Richardson was disqualified from the Games after she tested positive for marijuana weeks before the global competition commenced.
Tara nabbed third place in the women’s long jump at the 2022 Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon.
World Athletics has the athlete currently ranked as the globe’s 13th-best in the women’s long jump category.
The athlete married Paralympian Hunter Woodhall last October.
RELATED CONTENT: “Brittney Griner Throws Fans A Peace Sign And Smile At 2nd Public Appearance Since Russian Return.”
