WHEELCHAIR RACER FIGHTS 2-YEAR BAN

Canadian wheelchair racer Jeff Adams is fighting a two-year suspension
for testing positive for cocaine, arguing that the drug got into his
system involuntarily and the testing process was flawed.

At the centre of the odd case is an unknown woman in a Toronto bar who
Adams says shoved cocaine in his mouth with her fingers.

"The substance was involuntarily consumed," Adams said during a news
conference Tuesday. "I didn't cheat, there was no performance
enhancing, but I'm being treated like a cheater and I really don't
understand that.

"I hope this is going to be a case that shakes the drug testing
world."

Adams, now also ineligible for federal sport funding for life, is
filing an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne,
Switzerland, the highest tribunal in the sports world. He is also
filing complaints with the federal and Ontario human rights
commissions and taking the case to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

The 36-year-old Adams, an outspoken advocate for wheelchair racing and
one of the sport's most recognizable athletes worldwide, tested
positive at last year's Canadian wheelchair marathon championships in
Ottawa the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) announced Tuesday.

In the 57-page judgment from the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of
Canada, Adams claimed he involuntarily ingested the drug six nights
earlier when the woman shoved her fingers in his mouth without his
consent.

A witness testified at his arbitration hearing that she saw Adams
grabbing the woman's hand and pulling it out of his mouth.

Adams testified he then used the same catheter he had used the night
of the alleged incident at the bar when he was asked to provide a
urine sample at the Ottawa marathon.

It's an odd explanation for a doping infraction, but Adams says that's
the way it happened.

"From Day 1, I was absolutely honest with the CCES, I told them
exactly how this got to be in my body," Adams said. "It sure does look
on the surface of it that may have been one of my biggest mistakes, in
terms of strategy. But as a person, there was no other option."

Adams, a four-time Paralympian and six-time world champion, says the
suspension means the end of his career.

"I've lost everything," said Adams, fighting back tears. "My job as an
athlete is over; (it's) entirely likely my job as a public speaker is
over, and most importantly to me, my job as a volunteer. I do a ton of
work in Canada as a volunteer, and it's really the thing that means
the most to me and it's entirely gone now.

"And for what? I don't think this case really advances the cause of
eliminating cheating in sports."

The Brampton, Ont., athlete and his lawyer Tim Danson plan to argue
that the testing procedure discriminates against Paralympic athletes.

"Our legal position is as a matter of law that the drug testing
authorities have to treat disabled athletes in exactly the same way as
they treat able-bodied athletes," said Danson. "So if you need an
additional piece of equipment to collect the urine, it has to be clean
and they have to provide it, or at minimum, warn them."

Adams, who estimates he's been tested "hundreds of times," said
athletes used to be provided with catheters to provide urine samples,
and that sterile catheters were given to athletes at the 2006 Turin
Winter Olympics.

Brian MacPherson, the Canadian Paralympic Committee's chief operating
officer, said he'd never heard of a positive test from a contaminated
catheter.

"We'll certainly be looking at that, looking for systemic issues and
challenges," said MacPherson. "If there are (those issues), on behalf
of Paralympic athletes, we'll address that with the proper
authorities."

Danson also argued the banned substance was not in Adams' system at
the time of the race. He also said that cocaine is not prohibited
out-of-competition and has no performance enhancing qualities.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is expected to downgrade cocaine
to the same status as marijuana in its new doping code, meaning a
positive test would garner a reprimand. The new doping code is
expected next fall.

"It is absolutely not performance enhancing that has anything to do
with getting blood to your muscles," said Adams. "If you need to get
blood to muscles, it is the last thing you want in your system, it
really is."