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Team Canada is under the microscope again.
Canadian bronze medalist Alysha Newman has been banned from the sport for 20 months after failing a drug test, although athletics investigators have accepted she has completed her career as a pole vaulter. Newman won bronze for Canada at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
He recently entered the Diamond League tournament in May 2025 in Qatar and Morocco.
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Alysha Newman of Team Canada celebrates her bronze medal and poses with the Canadian flag during the women’s pole vault final at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Stade de France on Aug. 7, 2024. (Daniela Porcelli/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)
Newman is the latest Team Canada figure to stir controversy after incidents at or near the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Two controversies surrounding Canada’s winter sports teams in early 2026 involve allegations of violations of the rules on curling and rigging the competition in the skeleton. Canadian curlers were accused of “double-touching” stones at the Milan Cortina Olympics, and the curling team was found to have rigged the Lake Placid race to secure Olympic qualifying points, causing a huge uproar.
The Athletics Integrity Unit said Newman was absent for undisclosed drug tests in February of last year and two in August. Three “where are you” failures in a 12-month period can be prosecuted as an anti-drug offence.
In the third incident, the AIU said in its published decision that the athlete told the official who collected the sample that he “must leave immediately to participate in the taping of the television show.”
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The global anti-doping program requires athletes to set aside an hour each day to be available to provide a sample for testing.
Newman’s suspension expires in August 2027 and was less than the usual two years for residency charges because the AIU accepted that he had decided to leave his job.
This, the AIU said, is “a unique/unique factor to be considered in assessing the extent of his error in the matter.”
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Flag bearers Charles Hamelin and Marie-Philip Poulin carry the flag for Team Canada during the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics at the Beijing National Stadium on Feb. 4, 2022. (Elsa/Getty Images)
Newman also competed in two finals at the world championships, won gold and bronze at the Commonwealth Games and took bronze at the Pan American Games.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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