Former Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding missed the 2010 games in his hometown this past February and will miss the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia after being convicted of smuggling cocaine. He was sentenced to four years in prison in a San Diego courtroom Thursday, and although this is bad news for Wedding, his punishment could have been much more severe.
Though the professional snowboarder competed in the 2002 Winter Olympics and said he hoped to compete this year, the news of his drug use does not come as an immediate surprise. The snowboarder was convicted last December of conspiring to distribute 24 kilograms of cocaine, which usually carries a 10-year mandatory minimum. Wedding has already been held in custody for two years.
In June 2008, Wedding and two co-accused in the case were arrested when U.S. agents purported to be drug traffickers willing to sell 20 kilos of cocaine. The arrests were made after just one kilogram was exchanged for cash.
Before that incident, Wedding had been named in a Canadian search warrant and linked to a house where police found a marijuana growing operation. No charges were made there.
Although the U.S. Attorney led evidence that the athlete and two other B.C. men worked for Elmar Akhundov, “the leader of the Akhundov drug-trafficking organization based in Vancouver and under investigation in California for money laundering and drug trafficking,” Wedding denied ever being tied to a drug gang.
In the 2002 Salt Lake City games, Wedding placed 24th in his event but has not competed internationally since. Unfortunately we won’t be seeing Wedding putting his talent to use anytime soon.
[Via: The Vancouver Sun]
[Photo Via: The Vancouver Sun]
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