Dope tests stepped up for Olympic horses

The international equestrian federation is stepping up the fight against horse doping to avoid a repeat of the 2004 Athens Olympics fiasco.

"Athens was really a bad moment for the sport," FEI spokeswoman Malina Gueorguiev told The Associated Press.

"It was a big problem and it was very spectacular. Should anything like that happen again it could be very detrimental for the sport."

Three gold medallists were stripped of their titles four years ago. The FEI is anxious to restore the sport's reputation when the three-day eventing - dressage, cross-country and showjumping - competition is staged in Hong Kong in August along with the regular dressage and showjumping disciplines.

The governing body approved its anti-doping strategy of more tests and better communication with riders and veterinarians after a week of meetings at Interlaken, Switzerland.

"For human athletes, we are not facing any serious problems: for the horses every medication is forbidden in competition - that is the bottom line," Gueorguiev said.

Testing teams will take urine samples from the leading three horses in each discipline and conduct further random tests.

"We are looking at about 50 to 60 tests from 200 horses competing, and some of those horses will be tested multiple times if they are leading from the first day," Gueorguiev said.

At the last Olympics, Cian O'Connor of Ireland was stripped of his showjumping gold in a doping case that saw a sample lost or stolen from a laboratory in England.

Germany lost the team showjumping gold medal after Ludger Beerbaum's horse returned a positive test. His appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, failed.

In the most notorious Athens case, Bettina Hoy of Germany lost her three-day eventing gold for breaking the rules by crossing the start line twice in showjumping. Hoy's horse also tested positive for an antihistamine in a case further complicated by claims it was administered by a vet mistakenly thought to have been authorised by the governing body.

After the Athens debacle, the FEI appointed a task force which worked for a year to produce a new doping code.

It introduced a strict liability rule making riders responsible for any positive test by their horse and gave a clearer definition between doping and medication. Research was ordered into drug detection times so riders could know when permitted out-of-competition medications clear a horse's body.

"Horses do need treatment. Sometimes it might be that the horse is scratched, they apply some cream and there it is, a positive case. Riders have to be aware that this is very serious," Gueorguiev said.

Communication between the FEI and competitors has been improved by a doping guide published in English, French, Spanish, Russian and Arabic.

Olympic equestrian events are being held in Hong Kong, at the Sha Tin race course, because quarantine rules on mainland China do not meet international standards.