Ireland's Cian O'Connor Loses Individual Olympic Gold

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 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.

Cian O’Connor (IRL) and Waterford Crystal finished 1st of the Individual Jumping competition of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, winning Ireland's first ever Olympic medal.  Their disqualification from these Olympics means that Silver medallist Rodrigo Pessoa (BRA) on Baloubet du Rouet will move up to claim Gold,  Chris Kappler (USA) on Royal Kaliber move to Silver and Marco Kutscher (GER) receives Bronze. 

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

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.