How Shawnacy Barber ended up testing positive for a drug he says he didn’t do

Details of Shawnacy Barber’s positive test for cocaine were revealed on Thursday afternoon. In a conference call arranged by Athletics Canada, the organization’s CEO, Rob Guy, the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport’s CEO, Paul Melia, Barber and his lawyer made a statement and answered questions from the media.

Related: Canadian track and field star Shawnacy Barber tested positive for cocaine before Rio

Guy began by reiterating the Athletics Canada statement that they were happy with the outcome and that doping controls in Canada are apparently working. He also indicated that Athletics Canada have accepted that Barber’s cocaine use was inadvertent.

When the findings of the hearing and the accompanying document were released unceremoniously on Thursday morning, the overall timeline was unclear. During the conference call, it was indicated that Barber’s hearing date with the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre took place on Aug. 5, the day of the opening ceremony for the Games. Barber was due to begin competing eight days later, with the qualifying round of the pole vault set for Aug. 13.

Barber also made a brief statement towards the beginning of the conference call before fielding the bulk of the questions. The 22 year old spoke from Ohio, where he was a college star at the University of Akron.

He reiterated that the cocaine use must have been “through kissing” and that he “didn’t know that kissing a girl could transfer coke.” Barber’s lawyer, Paul Greene, stepped in at one point to say that a forensic toxicologist was brought in to study the result. “It was impossible he took it voluntarily,” Greene said, pointing out that a hair sample was also taken from Barber and that the toxicologist indicated it must have been inadvertent ingestion. “It was a complete freak episode,” Greene stated, calling the situation, “Gasquet Two.” In 2009, tennis pro Richard Gasquet tested positive for cocaine and used kissing a stranger as his defence. He was reinstated after convincing a court of arbitration this was the case.

When pressed about the details of his encounter and whether athletes should be held to a higher standard, Barber acknowledged this should be the case, but also said that, “we also have lives and also try to live our own lives.” The hearing document revealed that Barber had placed a post Craigslist’s “casual encounters” section, looking for a “a woman who was drug-free and disease-free. He also indicated that he wanted a “professional” person.” He was then contacted by a man who sent him pictures of a woman. The woman then met Barber at a hotel, with the man staying in the room at times. The woman, who was not identified by name, actually testified at the hearing on Barber’s behalf, indicating that he did not consume cocaine or see her take the drug, but that she did consume coke before and during their sexual encounter.

Barber was informed of his positive test by Peter Eriksson, the head coach of Athletics Canada. “What could cause a false positive?” Barber said he immediately asked himself. He then began to retrace his past weeks leading up to the trials. “OK, what have I done?” he told reporters he contemplated, looking at all the doctors or medical professionals he’d seen recently. That’s when he was told about the Gasquet case.

When asked about whether or not he felt he did anything wrong,  Barber was more resistant, suggesting that “it’s 2016″ and those who haven’t been in the dating scene in the last 15 years wouldn’t understand the way things transpire today, perhaps referencing the use of Craigslist to meet a short-term partner. “I believe at the time that I was taking the utmost caution,” he said. His lawyer also pointed out that Barber chose not to go to bars to meet women out of fear that his drink would be spiked if someone recognized him as a high level athlete, and that was part of the reasoning for the Craigslist post. “I didn’t know the entirety of the circumstances I was in,” Barber stated. “I’m sure I could take quite a bit away from this situation.” He did not address the fact that he was requesting a “professional” in his Craigslist post or why he was comfortable dealing with a middle man to meet the woman in question. He did point out that he basically lives in a hotel and that, “my online encounters and stuff, that’s the future.” In the hearing, he said he did not pay for the woman’s services. It is illegal to solicit sex or offer money for sex in Canada. In a follow-up email to Athletics Canada, CEO Rob Guy referred to their conduct policy and said he would refer the case to their commissioner when asked if they would punish an athlete who was found guilty of a criminal offence. Athletics Canada reiterated that Barber has not done anything knowingly illegal, and that the hearing interpreted his use of the word “professional” as to mean that the woman in question was working in a professional capacity in life.

CCES president Paul Melia first said that they didn’t have a position on the positive test, but then did acknowledge, as per what’s stated in the hearing document, that they were initially supporting a two-year sanction. He did point out that the standard ban for a cocaine positive is four years.

Melia also outlined why it’s taken over three months for this positive test to come to light. “We were simply following the rules [regarding time line of releasing information to the public],” he said. “We typically always do [the hearing] in a confidential nature.”

CCES had 40 days after the ruling to make the details public. That technically gave them until about Oct. 19. It was unclear why the ruling was released on Thursday. It was also unclear during the conference call if there was any discussion about leaving Barber off the Olympic team, particularly because the hearing didn’t find a resolution until Aug. 11, the day before Barber was set to begin competing. In a follow up email, Athletics Canada said that because Barber had not been sanctioned he was not going to be removed from the team unless his status would have changed under the ruling.

As for Barber losing his Canadian title and meet record in Edmonton, his lawyer pointed out that it was an automatic disqualification due to the in-competition positive.

Barber claimed he was not affected negatively by the stress of the positive test and the hearing and did not use it as an excuse for a poor performance in Rio.

“I went out and did as well as I could have,” he said. “I gave it 100 per cent effort… I don’t think this [the positive test and stress of that discovery] had anything to do with this.”

Barber says he just wants to move on, and is happy with how he’s been treated. “I’m very happy with the process,” he said. “It was quite the ordeal going into the Olympics, but I’m happy with the way its be handled and played out.”