LAUSANNE: Swiss rider Steve Guerdat, the individual showjumping gold medallist at the 2012 London Olympics, has been provisionally banned after two of his horses failed doping tests, the international equestrian federation (FEI) announced on Tuesday.

Guerdat’s horses Nino des Buissonnets and Nasa both tested positive for banned substance codeine and the controlled medication substance morphine, with the former also testing positive for oripavine, at an event in the French town of La Baule in May, the FEI said.

The 33-year-old Guerdat, who also won bronze at the 2008 Beijing Games, is subject to a mandatory provisional suspension in the event of a positive test prior to the opportunity for a full hearing.

The horses are provisionally suspended for two months.

“The FEI offers the athlete... and the horse owner the opportunity for a preliminary hearing before the FEI tribunal to request the lifting of the provisional suspensions,” the body said.

FEI secretary general Sabrina Zeender said: “The presence in all these samples of oripavine, which is not found in any veterinary products, suggests that this could be contamination, but obviously we still have to follow standard procedure.

“The combination of oripavine, morphine and codeine have frequently been seen in contamination cases from other equestrian sport regulators, and the FEI already has three outstanding cases from 2014 involving oripavine and morphine in which we proactively sought the lifting of the provisional suspensions.

“As the regulator of international equestrian sport, we have to balance fairness to the athletes with our dual role of protecting horse welfare and maintaining a level playing field,” Zeendar added.

Published in Dawn, July 22th, 2015

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