LAMAZE'S DISGRACE IS COMPLETE

A contrite Eric Lamaze has apologized to Canadians and all Olympic athletes
for a second "embarrassing" cocaine controversy that sparked his official
dumping yesterday from Canada's show jumping team in Sydney. "I promise you
that I will make it up to you so that I can again proudly represent my
country as an equestrian rider," Lamaze told a packed press conference
yesterday in lawyer Tim Danson's office.

"I ask for your patience, understanding and forgiveness."

And disgraced Alberta hammer thrower Robin Lyons yesterday admitted she had
a banned substance in her system. She will not compete in the Sydney
Olympics.

But Lyons remained defiant to the end, insisting that she doesn't know how
the steroid norandrosterone got into her system.

"I have never taken any prohibited substances or steroids," Lyons, 23, said
at a news conference.

"I do not know how the banned substance norandrosterone may have been
present in my body."

And Lyons, 23, of Edmonton, suggested she was being treated unfairly.

"I live in a country that prides itself on peacekeeping and dedication to
upholding human rights throughout the world, as do I, yet here I stand
accused without an opportunity to defend myself," Lyons said.

Lamaze said he accepts full responsibility for his actions and that he in no
way condones drug use.

Lamaze added that he is not a drug addict nor does he have any craving for
drugs.

"The message that drugs are unacceptable and bad is a message that I fully
endorse," Lamaze said, reading from a prepared statement.

Lamaze was banned for life from showing in all sanctioned equestrian
competitions and turfed off Canada's Olympic show jumping team two weeks ago
after testing positive for cocaine metabolites.

The 32-year-old riding sensation admits he took the cocaine that led to the
ban, but argued there were "catastrophic circumstances" that led to the drug
use.

The lifetime ban was overturned Monday by adjudicator Ed Ratushny, which
opened the door once again for Lamaze to join his Olympic teammates in
Sydney.

But early yesterday, the Canadian Olympic Association (COA) cancelled
Lamaze's team membership, saying that Lamaze had contravened an athlete
contract that prohibited him from taking banned substances such as cocaine.

The ruling followed a three-hour conference call Tuesday night with Lamaze
in his Schomberg home, Danson in Toronto and 15 COA members in Sydney.

"The facts are clear," COA president Bill Warren said in Sydney. "Mr.
Lamaze's cocaine use is in direct contravention of the agreement he signed
with the COA."

Warren said the COA board was unanimous in its decision, but one official
said only 11 of the 16 board members voted.

Federal sports minister Denis Coderre said from Sydney that he had no
intention of over ruling the COA.

Despite his comments earlier this week that he saw no reason to not compete
at the Olympics, Lamaze said yesterday that he fully supports the COA
decision, "which is one that commands respect and must be fully supported.

"Therefore, I publicly and with full conviction support and endorse the
decision of the Canadian Olympic Association," he added.

"I accept their judgement without reservation and I do so without regret or
bitterness."

In his written decision rolling back the lifetime ban, Ratushny outlined the
events leading to Lamaze's current predicament.

According to documents filed at the reinstatement hearing, Lamaze was
quietly banned for life on August 18 for using an herbal diet supplement
called Ultra Diet Pep that contained ephedrine -- the day before he used the
cocaine that led to his suspension.

He was later reinstated, but tested positive on August 29 for the cocaine he
smoked on August 19, the day after he was informed of the ban.

Medical evidence introduced at the reinstatement hearing in Ottawa on
Saturday showed that the first ban threw Lamaze into a suicidal freefall
that caused him to use cocaine, also a banned substance.

Lamaze was also dropped from Canada's 1996 Olympic squad in Atlanta for
cocaine use. He was given a four-year ban, but that was tossed out in 1997
by Ratushny as being "too excessive."

Danson said yesterday that he had urged his client to appeal the COA
decision to the Superior Court of Justice, "but I had to accept what Eric
wanted -- that it is simply time to move on."

He also called for an investigation into the Canadian Centre for Ethics in
Sport and the actions of its chair, Andrew Pipe, who is also chair of the
centre's Doping Control Review Board.

Pipe and the centre is directly responsible for the events that sparked
Lamaze's drug use by issuing a spurious lifetime ban and then rescinding it
without following proper procedures, Danson charged.

"Their role in this tragedy must be fully exposed," Danson told reporters.
"Their refusal to accept any responsibility or to be in any way accountable
for the unforgivable mistakes, is shameful."

The August 18 ban for ephedrine use "was not only a terrible mistake, but it
represented an egregious violation of the law and the doping policy itself
... and an egregious miscarriage of justice," Danson added.

Victor Lachance, executive director of the centre for ethics in sport said
yesterday that clearly neither Danson nor Lamaze understand how Canada's
doping policy works.

"Mr. Danson's personal attacks notwithstanding, Canada's doping control
program is not about Dr. Pipe or any other case," said Lachance.