MONTREAL, Canada (AFP) — World pole vault champion Shawn Barber was allowed to compete at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics despite testing positive for cocaine shortly before the games after a one-night stand with a woman he met online, it emerged yesterday.

In a ruling made public nearly two months after the case was heard, the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada (SDRCC) said Canadian star Barber escaped a ban after arguing that the cocaine entered his system after a hotel sex session he arranged via Craigslist.

“I am happy to have this behind me so that I can move on with my career with a free conscience,” Barber said in a statement released via Athletics Canada.

“At no time during my actions did I even fathom the possibility of being able to be contaminated with cocaine. This is a learning experience that I hope other athletes can learn from as I have,” the 2015 world champion added.

Barber, 22, tested positive for the drug on July 9 after competing at the Canadian Championships in Edmonton, where he won and set a new national record.

According to the SDRCC ruling, Barber arranged his hotel fling via the Craigslist online classified site using a pseudonym on the night before competing in Edminton.

Barber, who requested a “professional” woman who was “drug-and disease-free” said he sought out the liaison as “a way to relieve stress”, the SDRCC heard.

After rejecting initial replies, Barber set up a meeting with a woman described as a mother of two, who eventually arrived for the tryst accompanied by her boyfriend at the time, who was “around” during Barber’s interaction with the woman.

Unknown to Barber was the fact that the woman had used cocaine before the meeting and that she also snorted the drug during a visit to the washroom.

Barber said his subsequent positive test came as a “complete shock”.