Today's 12 hour FEI hearing held in Zurich, Switzerland saw Cian O'Connor lose his Gold medal from Athens and receive a 3 month suspension from the date of the EFI being officially notified of the full decision plus a small fine (approx. euro3,200).

No doubt losing a Gold medal will leave it's mark on Cian's future as he will always be suspect regardless of how politely the decision is worded - Cian's legal team have been quoted as saying that Cian may yet challenge the suspension! Surely he would be best served by "doing the time" and then trying to rebuild a career which must surely be dented by the loss of an Individual Olympic Gold medal.

The following is the official FEI statement issued immediately on the completion of the Hearing in Zurich today, Sunday March 27th, 2005:

27/03/2005

FEI Legal Update

Following a hearing held in Zurich (SUI) on 27 March 2005, the FEI Judicial Committee determined that there had been a breach of FEI General Regulations Art. 146.2 at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens relating to the presence of the prohibited substances of fluphenazine and zuclopenthixol in the horse Waterford Crystal ridden by Cian O’Connor (IRL).

The Judicial Committee accepted the reports of the analysis of the A urine sample as performed by the Laboratoire des Courses Hippiques (FRA)and also the analysis on a blood sample as performed by the USEF Drug Testing and Research Laboratory (USA) . The FEI Veterinary Regulations Art. 1022 permits the combination of analyses of blood and of urine.

The Judicial Committee decline to rely upon what is identified as an A Blood Sample analysis. The Judicial Committee decided that both substances as above are Prohibited Substances within the meaning of the Veterinary Regulations.

Accordingly the following consequences shall apply:

1) Disqualification from all competitions of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens pursuant to General Regulations Art. 146.2 and 174.7.1.

2) The Person Responsible shall make a contribution to the costs of CHF 5000 pursuant to General Regulations 174.12.

3) Suspension for the period of 3 months commencing at the date that is 30 days after the receipt by Equestrian Federation of Ireland of the full written decision of the FEI Judicial Committee.

The Judicial Committee is satisfied that the PR has established that he was not involved in “a deliberate attempt to affect the performance of the horse ...” as referred to in General Regulations 174.7.3.

The above is a brief summary of the reasons and the Decision.

NOTES TO THE EDITOR

Olympic Games results
Cian O’Connor (IRL) and Wateford Crystal finished 1st of the Individual Jumping competition of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Silver medallist was Rodrigo Pessoa (BRA) on Baloubet du Rouet.

Date of the hearing
The date of the hearing was selected following scheduling difficulties of all parties and their witnesses and not solely related to O’Connor’s party as stated in the FEI Press news dated 22 February 2005.

Composition of the hearing
FEI Judicial Committee:
Mr. Ken E. Lalo (ISR), Chairman
Mr. Erik Elstad (NOR)
Mr Francis Michielsens (BEL)
Mr. Philip O’Connor (IRL)

Present for the FEI:
Mr Alexander McLin (SUI), Head of the FEI Legal department
Dr. Jean-Marc Reymond (SUI), Carrard Paschoud Heim & Associés, Legal Counsel assisted by Caroline Nguyen
Witnesses:
Dr. Frits Sluyter (NED), Head of the Veterinary Department of the FEI
Prof. Marianne M. Sloet van Odruitenborgh-Oosterbaan (NED), Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Utrecht University
Yves Bonnaire (FRA), director Laboratoire des Courses Hippiques (LCH) in France

Present for the Person Responsible:
Cian O’Connor (IRL)
Michael Collins (IRL), Senior Counsel, Coonan Cawley Solicitors
Andrew Coonan (IRL), Solicitor, Coonan Cawley Solicitors
Pierre-Yves Tschanz (SUI), Lawyer
James Cawley (IRL), Solicitor, Coonan Cawley Solicitors
Witnesses:
Prof. Tom Tobin (USA), veterinary surgeon
James Sheeran (IRL) MRCVS, veterinary surgeon (Cian O’Connor’s veterinarian)
Jane Doyle (IRL), head groom

Appeal
The Person Responsible may file an appeal against the decision of the Judicial Committee with the Court of Arbitration for Sport within a period of 30 days, upon receipt of the formal decision, in accordance with Article 170 of the General Regulations of the FEI.

The FEI list of prohibited substances for horses is published on the FEI website www.horsesport.org section veterinary – medication control. The FEI complete legal procedure for positive medication cases is published in the section legal – legal procedure.