OLYMPIC POSITIVE MEDICATION CASES
FEI CREATES TASK FORCE TO REVIEW MEDICATION CONTROL AND ANTIDOPING POLICY

The FEI held its Bureau Meeting on 15 and 16 November in Buenos Aires (ARG).A major item of consideration was medication control, including the positivetest results of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.

The FEI President and Bureau have expressed their concern at the current high profile positive medication cases for horses - including those of the 2004 Olympic medal winners. The FEI is deeply concerned about the welfare of the competition horses and the need to maintain fair play in sport. The
President HRH the Infanta Doña Pilar de Borbón said "The FEI is particularly disturbed about the current situation, as it reflects so badly on equestrian sport. The FEI has continually endeavoured to maintain a clean equestrian sport."

The FEI President and Bureau are distressed that, under present FEI rules, immediate and strict action cannot be taken against alleged misuse of medication in horses before the completion of testing and legal procedures.

Consequently, the FEI Bureau has taken the initiative to establish a task force which will review the policies necessary for the elimination of abusive and illegal performance enhancing drugs and to review the general medication control of horses.

The task force will be composed of representatives of the National Federations, as sports policy is the main component of the issue, and specialists in the area of veterinary, legal affairs and communications will serve as advisors to the task force. Geographical spread will be taken into
account.

Recommendations regarding the FEI medication control and anti-doping policy will be put forward to the 2005 General Assembly.

In connection with the four positive medication cases of Athens 2004, the Medication Sub-Committee of the FEI has now provided its reports advising that the B-sample taken from these horses have confirmed the presence of the prohibited substances.

Once all evidence is submitted by the parties, the positive medication files will be submitted to the FEI Judicial Committee for a decision on the matter. An oral hearing before the FEI Judicial Committee may be held, if requested by either party or required by the Judicial Committee.

The FEI President and the Bureau would like to see a quick resolution within the rules of all pending medication cases.


The FEI President acknowledged the problems in communication on the progress of the Irish case but emphasised its complexity and the additional complication provoked by "criminal activities". The aspect of communication will be looked at by a new Task Force established by the Bureau at its
meeting in Buenos Aires.

Muriel Faienza
Communication Manager
Federation Equestre Internationale

The two showjumpers in the middle of the showjumping Olympic medal problems....

left: Cian O'Connor seen on Dot Com and

right: Ludger Beerbaum seen on Gladys S

It might be as long as 2006 until the Individual and Team Athens Olympic medals are decided finally - this is simply too long!

From the Editor............With the German showjumping team now at risk of losing their Team Gold medal for showjumping after a backup doping test found Olympic showjumper Goldfever positive to a banned drug the Athens Olympics Equestrian events will go down in history as the worst ever for results.

Germany risks being stripped of its show jumping team gold after one of the team's horses tested positive for banned drug betamethasone in Athens when the B sample result confirmed that of the A sample.

In spite of Beerbaum's claims earlier this year that the drugs had been administered for medical reasons and did not have any effect on performance they risk losing the team medal.

The final results of the team and individual medals are unlikely to be resolved in a hurry as there are so many processes which must first be gone through and this is one of the issues the FEI are looking into.

The FEI medical sub-committee will review the lab report on Goldfever and if it concludes that Goldfever has been doped, Ludger Beerbaum will be asked for a written explanation and will remit the case to the FEI's judicial committee, which may then grant Beerbaum a hearing before ruling on the case.

If an unfavourable verdict is returned, Beerbaum will then have a chance to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Only after these processes have been gone through will the International Olympic Committee decide whether the German team keep their gold or lose it to the Americans, who took the silver in Athens. In this case, Sweden would take the silver and the Netherlands would get the bronze.

The same processes will be gone through by Individual Gold medalist, Ireland's Cian O'Connor, although the result of this will quite possibly take even longer in light of the bizarre turn of events including theft of a B sample, break in at Federation offices and claims of personal vendetta agains O'Connor - so the Individual result may not be known until as far away as 2006 according to one official leaving Pessoa, Kappler and Kutscher not knowing where they stand either.

The team show jumping would be the third Athens Olympic gold medal Germany loses to legal disputes, after a judging revision over Bettina Hoy's performance assigned the eventing team gold to Britain and the individual gold to Leslie Law.

Hoy's Ringwood Cockatoo B-sample also tested positive to a banned sedative and anti-histamine drug,diphenhydramine,confirming the Athens results. The German federation has asked Hoy and Beerbaum to provide an explanation within 15 days.