Cian O'Connor, Ireland's hero at the Athens Olympics after claiming individual gold in the showjumping, is expected to be stripped of his medal following a positive dope test on his horse, Waterford Crystal. The horse has tested positive for a mild tranquillising agent.
The 24-year-old Kildare rider has requested that the B sample taken from the horse in Athens be sent for confirmatory analysis. A second positive test will result in automatic disqualification and the loss of Ireland's only medal from the 28th Olympiad.
In a statement yesterday, the Equestrian Federation of Ireland said it had been informed by O'Connor that on July 22nd his horse had incurred a mild fetlock injury and after assessment his vet, Mr James Sheeran, had advised hydrotherapy treatment, which involves confinement in an enclosed hydrotherapy unit. "Since the horse was in peak fitness, it was feared that he may injure himself during the treatment, so the veterinary surgeon prescribed mild sedation," the statement said.
O'Connor was advised by his vet that the sedative would be out of the horse's system within 10 to 14 days, but the substance showed up in a post-medal test taken on August 27th.
"I am utterly devastated that the A sample taken from my horse at the Games has tested positive", O'Connor said in a statement. "That notion amounts to cheating, and I am not a cheat. I believe that I won this medal fair and square and that the horse has not been given anything that would make him jump better."
Mr Sheeran said he could not understand how the medication prescribed by him could still be present in the horse's system over a month later. "I can categorically state that the medication administered by me was not a performance-enhancing substance, but was used after careful consideration in the best interests of the horse's welfare. Any residue that may have existed in the horse's system at the time of the Olympic Games would certainly have no therapeutic influence, good or bad."
The B sample will be analysed at the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) laboratory in Paris. That procedure is expected to take up to three weeks, after which O'Connor will be given 10 days to provide a written statement or request a personal hearing before the FEI judicial committee.
Following the decision of the judicial committee the rider has 30 days in which to lodge an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne. Under FEI rules, the rider is considered to be the person responsible, and positive dope tests result in automatic disqualification.
Meanwhile O'Connor has decided not to accept the Irish Person of the Year award, which he was due to receive at a televised ceremony tonight.