Olympic Games star busted for cocaine to hold crunch talks with club

Tom Craig’s German hockey club will meet with the player before determining any penalty after the Kookaburras star’s arrest in Paris.

In the aftermath of Australia’s Olympics quarter-final exit, Craig was taken into custody when he was spotted by undercover French police attempting to buy cocaine.

He was held on Tuesday night and released on Wednesday afternoon without a fine or criminal record, then had his Australian Olympic athlete privileges in Paris stripped by chef de mission Anna Meares. 

The 28-year-old Craig, a silver medallist in Tokyo, had been one of his team’s better performers in a disappointing quarter-final exit.

Craig, who has previously played professionally in the Netherlands, is contracted to Germany’s Hamburg Polo Club. ‘We’re still 100 per cent behind our player,’ club board member Freddy Ness told German news agency dpa on Thursday. 

Ness added: ‘We will be holding talks shortly, then he should tell us his view of things in peace. And then we will decide how to proceed.’ Craig delivered a brief statement to media after his release, apologising for what he called ‘a terrible mistake’. 

‘My actions are my own, and by no way reflect the values of my family, my teammates, my friends, my sport, and the Australian Olympic team,’ he said.

‘I’ve embarrassed you all and I’m truly sorry.’ Meares said Craig was ‘a good person who had made a poor decision but there are consequences for decisions like this’.

He had already left the Olympic Village and was not intending to be part of the closing ceremony. ‘If he were, he would not be able to attend,’ Meares said.

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