Ross Rebaglti was the Gold Medal winning Canadian snowboarder who tested positive for marijuana, during the 1998 Winter Olympics, held in Nagano, Japan. After he escaped with his medal on a technicality, the Olympic officials officially banned marijuana, officially.
Phelps brought back the stoner Olympian ideal, but it's impact was quickly lost. He lost sponsorships, and he was banned for three months. An eight time gold medalist gets banned, for being photographed privately smoking weed.
After those two dangerous and damaging encounters, it seems unlikely that pot will show it's face in this Winter Olympics. Even though we all secretly expect it from Shaun White. Sports have had a pretty rigid relationship with pot. Many players from many have been suspended, and/or apologized for making a "huge mistake". Nobody mistakenly smokes weed, it's just not that serious.
More recently it's becoming slightly more acceptable for players in the NFL and the NBA to admit to smoking weed in the off season. The worry is that, they are seen as "role models" for young children. Still, players are coming out of the pot closet. Like when Josh Howard, Dallas Mavericks, took his views to radio.
Our sports and sports media will probably take a while to come around to weed. They seem to like it less than steroids. If you've ever played sports or done anything under the effects of pot, you know it's either more fun or less fun, but it's definitely not dangerous.
It's closer to the opposite. As medicinal marijuana spreads, it is growing in validity in the eyes of the scientific community, and the discovered number of uses. It's ability to soothe pain without the harsh side affects of pharmaceuticals is invaluable to people with constant aches, from chemotherapy patients to, you guessed it, athletes, and all athletic people. A fact acknowledged in the Men's Journal article, Pot for Pain.
There seems to be no stopping pot.