Another disastrous blot on Ireland's copybook
Denis Lynch may have been unlucky, but it's a positive test with consequences for Irish equestrian sport, says Louise Parkes
D enis Lynch wasn't the only one who was "shattered" by the news that his Olympic horse, Lantinus, had tested positive for a banned substance during competition in Hong Kong last week. The Irish public, and the showjumping community in particular, groaned in agony as once again an equestrian competitor attracted headlines for all the wrong reasons.
And on the bigger stage the international governing body, the FEI, expressed deep concern about the future of equestrian sport within the Olympic movement. The expense of staging horse competitions, particularly the cross-country phase of the three-day-event which requires a significant swathe of open countryside, has long been a subject of heated debate in the IOC. It creates a real dilemma for many of the Olympic organising committees and London 2012 is already trying to grapple with the problem, with Greenwich the suggested location, but much work has to be done to create a suitable environment.
So when disciplines experience recurring problems that only tends to make a bad situation even worse. Many in the horse world are simply waiting for the moment when the IOC decides that the equestrian events are too problematic and should therefore be dropped, despite the fact that they have been an intrinsic part of the Olympic movement since 1912.
A total of four showjumping horses, all qualified for Thursday's individual final, tested positive for capsaicin, prompting Sven Holmberg, second vice-president of the FEI, to say: "This is a severe blow to our sport -- four cases and the same substance in each case -- we are not sure if we can call it a trend but the fact that all four are the same adds to the seriousness."
In a specially-convened press conference, FEI veterinary official, Paul Farrington, said the substance, which is a derivation of the chilli pepper and can cause a burning sensation, could be used to sensitise horse's legs so that they would jump better.
The FEI itself is caught somewhere between a rock and a hard place. If it didn't devote so much of its attention to improving its screening for drugs, then there would not be nearly so many high-profile positive test results but it is hell-bent on maintaining a 'clean' sport and so the game of cat-and-mouse goes on between the international governing body and those whose time is spent trying to find new ways of getting horses to try harder and to stay sounder.
Never before has it been possible to turn around test results in five days as happened last week, but because the organisers had the services of the world-famous Hong Kong Jockey Club veterinary laboratory on their doorstep, the samples were fresh, the analysis was done immediately and the results came through before any of the four riders whose horses tested positive had a medal dangling around their necks.
The Athens 2004 experience had been unbearable -- Ireland losing individual showjumping gold when Cian O'Connor had to forfeit the medal won with Waterford Crystal after the gelding tested positive and Germany losing show jumping team gold when Ludger Beerbaum's horse did likewise. "I hope we have served the sport well by giving you the information in real time," said FEI president Princess Haya on Thursday night.
Now only the test results for the horses of the three medallists -- Canada's Eric Lamaze who took gold, Sweden's Rolf-Goran Bengtsson who took silver and America's Beezie Madden who took bronze -- can spoil the 2008 equestrian Olympic result sheet.
Denis Lynch said on Thursday that he never intended to do anything wrong when applying the Equi-Block lotion, which clearly contained capsaicin, to his horse's back before exercise but if the B sample, which will be tested at the same lab, comes up positive again then he will probably face a suspension, a fine and all the negative energy that accompanies high-profile cases such as this.
On the domestic front, it will do further damage to the sport's image while at international level it is also damaging for the country's reputation.
The other three riders were Brazil's Bernardo Alves, Norway's Tony-Andre Hansen and Germany's Christian Ahlmann and
the German Federation burst into action right away, quickly staging a press conference for their national journalists and expressing their deep distress that history should be repeating itself. The sport is huge in Germany, well-supported by big business and a thriving industry for breeders and dealers as well as riders, so negative publicity is badly received and barely tolerated.
Cian O'Connor found himself in the eye of a huge storm when residue of medication administered weeks beforehand remained in his horse's system while competing in Athens; Jessica Kuerten has been fighting a very public battle over the discovery of an anti-arthritic drug found in the mare with which she won the Grand Prix at La Baule last year; and now Denis Lynch stands accused of breaking the rules while using a product he believed to be perfectly safe.
O'Connor may have been unfortunate, Kuerten may still find a way of persuading the authorities that she is innocent of any wrongdoing when her case comes before the Court of Arbitration for Sport within the next few weeks, and Lynch may be the unluckiest man alive.
But every time another of these cases arises, it is not just the rider who is "shattered". Another wound is inflicted on a great sport, the people who are engaged in it, and the country that has a reputation for producing horses and riders of the highest calibre.
