Back in 2021, during the Tokyo Olympics, athlete Sha’Carri Richardson made headlines after testing positive for marijuana just days after dominating the U.S. Olympic trials.

At only 21, Richardson had qualified for Tokyo’s 100-meter individual race, becoming the youngest woman to win the event since Alice Brown in the 1980s.

But after the positive test, Richardson received a one-month suspension, ultimately costing her a spot on the U.S. Olympic team.

Despite competing in Oregon, where marijuana is legal, and receiving widespread support from fans and fellow athletes, Richardson faced the harsh reality of Olympic rules.

She openly acknowledged using cannabis as a way to cope with the recent death of her mother, yet the ban stood firm, keeping her from the Summer Games.

While we didn’t see Sha’Carri light up the track in Tokyo, several other top athletes have defied stigma, embraced cannabis, and gone on to win gold.

Here’s a look at five athletes who prove that talent and cannabis can go hand in hand.

Yeah, you know this guy loves to treat his aches and pains with cannabis. Phelps was caught on film smoking from a bong in 2009, just 3 months after his historic 8 gold medal wins in Beijing. Phelps was suspended for several months as a result of the scandal.

Since then, Phelps has become the USA all-time leading medalist.

Does Usain Bolt smoke weed?

Well, Bolt admitted that as a youngster growing up in Jamaica, he occasionally used cannabis. He hasn’t had any run-ins with the International Olympic Committee regarding cannabis use while competing, and if he does dabble in the green, he keeps it pretty low-key.

Back in a 2021 interview, Bolt confidently said he could have easily won the 100m gold if he did attend the Tokyo Olympics. “I really missed it. I was like, I wish I was there,” the 8-time gold medal olympian said.

There’s certainly an air of confidence that surrounds Olympians like Phelps and Bolt. Is it “canna-confidence”?

Ross Rebagliati does not have the name recognition that Phelps and Bolt do, but his role in cannabis policy reform in the Olympics is huge. In 1998, Rebagliati was awarded a gold medal for snowboarding, but not before testing positive for THC.

Fortunately, the International Olympic Committee hadn’t placed cannabis on the banned substances list yet, so they could not take his medal away. Shortly after Rebagliati’s run-in with the Olympic weed haters, the Committee voted to add THC to the banned substances list.

It remains on the list, but in 2013 the Committee voted to increase the acceptable nanograms to 150 in an effort to differentiate between active and passive users.

Nicholas Delpopolo is an American Judo competitor. At the 2012 London Games, Delpopolo tested positive for THC and was subsequently banned from the games. He claimed that he was unknowingly given an edible that was laced with THC.

Whether or not he ate the edible on purpose is debatable. I would have to assume that an Olympic level fighter knows his body. He is not going to risk an ass whipping because of being too high.

Jamie Anderson is the lone female on this gold medal top 5. Anderson won Olympic Gold in the 2014 Sochi Games for Women’s Slopestyle. Winter sports stars are often looked at with a suspicious eye when it comes to marijuana use.

Though Anderson did not fail a drug test, nor was she punished for cannabis use, she did lead reporters to believe that she is a cannabis user.