Four horses have been banned from competing in yesterday’s Olympic Games jumping competition for doping, the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) said.
The horses — representing Brazil, Germany, Ireland and Norway — had been suspended after testing positive for a prohibited substance, the FEI, which controls the sport, said in a statement.
The four banned riders are Bernardo Alves of Brazil and his horse Chupa Chup; Germany’s Christian Ahlmann and Coster; Ireland’s Denis Lynch and Latinus; and Norway’s Tony Andre Hansen and Camiro.
The announcement throws into doubt the medal order of the team jumping competition earlier in the week, in which Norway won a bronze medal, its first ever placing in an Olympics equestrian event.
The US won the gold and Canada the silver.
McLin could not confirm when an announcement would be made on whether Norway would have to relinquish its medal.
If the team bronze is taken away from Norway, Switzerland will take third place.
The FEI’s secretary-general Alexander McLin told reporters Will Simpson of the US would not start in the individual final because the US had three other riders competing, the limit according to FEI rules.
In its statement, the FEI said the four horses had been “provisionally suspended by the FEI further to doping/medication control tests that indicated the present of capsaicin in each horse.”
The substance is a derivative of the chili pepper plant and has always been banned, but only recently has a test been developed to detect it, said Paul Farrington, associate member of the FEI’s veterinarian committee.
Its use seems to be like a chemical form of rapping, an illegal activity in which horses’ forelegs are hit to bruise them, so they will avoid knocking the fences.
One horse from each medal-winning team had been tested for banned substances, Farrington said.
McLin said the B tests for the positive horses would be completed in coming days, but not soon enough for any of the riders to compete in the final.
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