MYSTERY BAR GAL DID HIM IN?

Paralympian Champ Fights 2-Year Ban, Claims Coke Got In Mouth By
Fingers

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 yesterday. "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.

Adams, 36, of Brampton and an outspoken advocate for wheelchair racing
and one of the sport's most recognizable athletes worldwide, tested
positive at the 2006 Canadian wheelchair marathon championships in
Ottawa, says the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport.

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. 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. 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. "

The 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," Danson said. "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."