Sports Desk

Sports in the Capital Region and beyond

Iorizzo: Delpopolo’s ouster nonsensical


In his column, Pete Iorizzo says Nick Delpopolo’s ouster from the Olympics over a positive test for marijuana doesn’t make any sense. Do you agree?

Categories: General
Tim Neff

15 Responses

  1. JR says:

    He thought is was oregano.

  2. willybilly says:

    I don’t agree with it personally, but I agree with the Olympic committee having the final say. If they want pot out, then pot is out. Don’t do it! It’s just that simple. We all have to take tests for employment, etc so what’s the big deal? He screwed up royally. I don’t beleive someone just gave him some pot brownies and he didn’t know. The dog ate my homework once too. Life lesson. If he’s good enough, he’ll get another shot hopefully. An unfortunate mistake but thems the rules.

  3. Simon says:

    The rules are clearly stated. No surprises in them. He knew months/years in advance what was in the list and what wasn’t.

    Accident or not, the test came back positive, and the documented rules were followed.

    Still feel sorry for his circumstances tho.

  4. Mathew says:

    I would be ok with it if they banned alcohol as well and disqualified all Olympians they have proof of using any mind altering substance.

    We all love Michael Phelps and he was smoking pot.

    I think it may be time to be fair and stop persecuting pot heads.

    If not its time to get hard on sugar, caffeine, energy drinks, alcohol, etc.

    It’s funny cause this guy gets in trouble for using a little pot because it takes so long to get out of your system but athletes can use harder drugs bc it gets out of their system so fast. No one would care or even know if this guy was a coke/crack/meth head.

    The world needs to get smart.

  5. Ididntinhaleiswear says:

    Obviously, You and his father just don’t get it. He knew the rules, the banned substances and ha been subjected to testing in the past. If you don’t like them, don’t participate. What sickens me the most is once again we have a parent who’s kid screwed up and they’re blaming everyone but the idiot that caused the problem. As I recall, armed troops did not go to his house and force him to become an athlete. He made a decision to compete and made a decision to abide by the rules which have a whole list of banned substances. It makes little different if it’s performance enhancing or not, it’s BANNED! What part of that 6 letter word is so difficult to understand? Face it, he screwed up and now he’s learned a lesson or perhaps not. Maybe Daddy should have explained things like this to him while he was younger instead of teaching the blame game.

  6. Julio says:

    This is ridiculous. To include pot as a banned substance along with steroids is asinine. Would they kick you out if you had alcohol in your system? Pot can linger in your system for 30 days, he could have eaten a brownie or whatever 2 weeks ago and tested positive for it. I agree that he should have known better and those are the rules, regardless of how stupid they are. The IOC has and continues to operate in stubborn, archiac, and riculous ways, but I guess, as a participating athlete, you must follow the rules, no matter how dumb they are.

    The tests for employment etc, are equally stupid and invasive. If you choose to smoke pot at home, after work, it shouldn’t matter to your employer. If you are not cutting it at work, than that will show and you will be let go for perfomance, not if you choose to get high on your own time.

  7. Jeff says:

    No, I don’t agree.

  8. Jane says:

    Marijuana or its effects in the body THC are only traceable for a few days at most for the “recreational” user, that is say once a month. He says he ate a brownie a few weeks prior to the test with it cooked in it, nonsense. At most THC is shown in tests for 13 days for the “recreational” user and as much as 45 days for the “avid” user…which is he?? avid or recreational?? Because he is not the unwitting fool that ate a brownie.

  9. Joe says:

    I agree marijuana should totally be legal for mass comsumption. However, being a fomer athlete myself who had to abide by WADA and USADA (us anti doping agency) I feel little sympathy for his plight. It was explained to me by officials of WADA that marijuana is illegal in international competition for 3 reasons. 1) IT IS AGAINST THE OLYMPIC SPIRIT. The IOC strictly enforces “clean” competition and drugs of any kind shouldn’t play a part in any Olympian’s life (especially 2 weeks prior to competition. 2)Marijuana (as dumb a law as it is) is illegal in most nations. How can WADA or any other organiztion allow someone to have an ILLEGAL substance in their body? and 3) they informed me that in some situations Marijuana HAS been shown to be performance enhancing. The bottom line is that he knew it was banned and he did it anyway. And people, stop comparing him to Michael Phelps. Phelps won 20 medals for the US, Nick didn’t win any. Plus Phelps was caught smoking a bong 4 months after the Olympics, he didn’t test postitive for it, IT’S NOT THE SAME THING!! Peformancing enhancing or not, it’s on the banned substance list and he knew better and he should deal with the penalties. My last gripe is this: if you’re heading for the Olympics, for a sport that requires you to “make weight”, why hell were you eating brownies anyway?? Isn’t proper diet essential to peak performance? anyway just my thoughts.

  10. Brian says:

    No I do not agree. If I tested positive for marijuana I would not have a job. Same would go for you. I do agree it is silly but as number 2 said, “thems the rules”.

  11. Really? says:

    I totally disagree with Pete…like others have said, it’s banned regardless if we think it should be legal here or its legal elsewhere. A dream was thrown away for what? A bunch of pot brownies given to you by a supportive family member who knew you were an elite Olympic athlete…something 99% of the population can only dream about. I hope the temporary high was worth it for both you and that infamous family member that allegedly gave them to you…assuming that your story about not knowing is true…which I suspect it is not!

  12. city living says:

    I agree with most of the others. Rules are rules. He knew them and messed up. It’s a shame, but it is what it is.

  13. Smitty says:

    If this kid was not from the area you would not be defending him so strongly. He made a poor choice and has to deal with the consequences. This is his fault…he needs to own it. The U.S. could certainly win a medal in entitlement and the inability to own one’s mistakes.

  14. Jango Davis says:

    I’m in favor of legalization, however, several things come to mind:

    Delpopolo is lying when he says he “inadvertantly” ate marijuana laced brownies.

    Competing in a combat sport at the olimpic level and using marijuana is incompatible, otherwise you’ll get your butt kicked, which is exactly what happened to Delpopolo. At least that’s a better excuse than admiting 7th place was your best effort straight.

    Iorizzo either never smoked marijuana or never competed in organzied sports, either way, he shouldn’t be writing about this topic. As a sports commentator it is irresponsible, and again, I’m in favor of legalization, but there is a time and place for everything. Delpopolo is not being honest about his use of marijuana and he should know better than to use before a once in a lifetime opportunity.

  15. Bill In Glens Falls says:

    You argue this one, but not the lesbian who was thrown off before the games for a positive test? Kinda sexist?

    For the record, I completely agree with both of them.

    You are there to represent your nation. Follwo the rules.