Olympian who dropped dog's meds on skin avoids doping ban

Nash’s encounter with anti-doping authorities still went on the books.

CZECH (Web Desk) - Nowhere in the complex labyrinth of rules, bylaws and interpretations that govern the global anti-doping system did anyone see this warning: Beware of Dog Medicine.

It’s an understandable omission, but one that led to a three-month sleuthing expedition that eventually exonerated a five-time Olympian of doping, while adding what some feel is an unnecessary asterisk next to her spotless record as a clean athlete.

Katerina Nash, a mountain biker and cross-country skier who represented the Czech Republic in two Winter and three Summer Olympics, avoided a four-year doping sanction after minute traces of a banned substance showed up in her system. Authorities determined the substance got there through her skin during the messy struggles she faced in forcing medicine drops down the throat of her ailing dog, a Vizsla named Rubi.

Despite not receiving a sanction, Nash’s encounter with anti-doping authorities still went on the books Thursday, a byproduct of long-enshrined rules that call for any doping violation — even an inadvertent’ “adverse analytical finding” such as this one — to be announced publicly.

“It’s devastating to think that, like, not washing my hands could ruin my entire career, being an athlete for 30 years,” the 45-year-old Nash told The Associated Press. “But there’s no regrets. I would not have cared for my dog in any different way. But in the end, I was touching this medicine every day for about three straight weeks.”