There was no shortage of doping- or drug-related stories in track and field this year, but none was as strange as the details surrounding Shawn Barber's positive test for cocaine. 

A Canadian pole vaulter and world champion, Barber failed a drug test prior to the Rio Olympics, setting off an investigation that eventually revealed he inadvertently ingested the substance during a Craiglist encounter with a woman. 

On July 8, one day before Barber was to compete at the Canadian Olympic Trials in Edmonton, Alberta, the former Akron NCAA champion and 2015 world champion posted on Craigslist that he was interested in meeting up with a woman, specifying that she must be "drug and disease free." He eventually received a note from a man with a photo of a woman, whom Barber found attractive. Barber arranged to meet the woman at a hotel later that night.

Unbeknownst to Barber, the woman had consumed cocaine through her nose prior to this meetup. She also admitted to consuming a 26-ounce bottle of vodka that evening. Barber and the woman kissed for about 30 minutes. 

After he won the Canadian national championship, Barber was subject to an in-competition drug test, and both his urine and blood were tested. Cocaine was found in both "A" and "B" samples.

Barber was allowed to compete in Rio after both he and the woman testified in a hearing that Barber inadvertently ingested the cocaine. He did not find out he was able to compete until August 11, just two days before the Rio prelims.

Barber received no suspension but was stripped of his Canadian national title, because the substance was in his body at the time of competition.

My ranking of the top pole vault stories of 2016:

1) This one

2) Thiago Braz Da Silva (Brazil) upsets Renaud Lavillenie (France) for Olympic gold

3) Jenn Suhr (USA) vaults 5.03m breaking the world indoor record

4) Home crowd boos Renaud Lavillenie (France)

5) Jenn Suhr (USA) gets sick at the Olympics

6) Ekaterini Stefanidi (Greece) wins Olympic gold

7) Sandi Morris (USA) vaults 5.00m breaking the U.S. outdoor record

8) Jenn Suhr (USA) and Renaud Lavillenie (France) win the IAAF World Indoor titles

9) Virginia Tech men go 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 in the pole vault at ACCs

10) Cale Simmons (USA) Olympic standard controversy

11) Chris Nilsen (Missouri) vaults 5.60m breaking the high school outdoor record

12) A true freshman Alexis Weeks (University of Arkansas) wins NCAA indoors and outdoors

13) Mondo Duplantis (Louisiana) vaults 5.50m breaking the high school indoor record

14) NCAA favorite Jake Blankenship (University of Tennessee) no heights at NCAA indoor

15) Wilma Murto (Finland) vaults 4.71m breaking the world junior indoor record