Taoiseach defends O’Connor in doping scandal
In his first comments on the positive drugs test that threatens to strip the country of its sole medal from the Athens Games, Mr Ahern said the development was deeply disappointing.
Cian O’Connor had given great service to the country for the past seven years and for him to be drawn into the controversy must be very upsetting, he said.
He emphasised that the showjumper and his vet had both vigorously denied any wrongdoing and he said he hoped the rider would come through the process with his reputation intact.
Mr Ahern, who is on an official visit to South-East Asia and Bahrain, was speaking in Singapore as the controversy over the alleged doping of Mr O’Connor’s Waterford Crystal continued to run.
Earlier, a former chef d’équipe of the Irish showjumping team expressed suspicion that somebody might have “got at” at the horse while it was in stables at the Olympic Games.
Tommy Wade, who has led Irish entries in many international competitions, insisted in a radio interview that Mr O’Connor was “clean as a whistle” but said security was often lax at major events and Waterford Crystal’s sudden improvement in form after a poor start to the Olympics made him suspicious.
“Anybody who wants to get into the stables at a show can. They say they have good security - they don’t. Anybody can walk in and they could dope what horses are there in half an hour,” he told Eamon Dunphy on Newstalk 106FM.
“I have a view that horse could have been got at during the Olympic Games. The horse came out after a diabolical performance on the second day of the competition where he didn’t leave the ground on some of the fences in the Nations Cup competition.
“Two days later he came out in the individual and he is back to his old self and jumps fantastic. Now that leaves a big question mark in my mind about what might have happened down there.”
On the same programme, one of the most senior officials of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI), which is pursuing the doping case against Cian O’Connor, agreed that there had “often been rumours of horses being got at”.
But FEI sports director Michael Stone said the federation had almost never had a defence from a rider claiming that a horse’s positive drugs test was down to sabotage. There was little gambling on showjumping, he pointed out, so there was no incentive from anybody outside the event to attempt any doping.
Meanwhile, showjumping fans in Brazil are reported to have mixed feelings about the prospects of their rider, Rodrigo Pessoa, being promoted from the silver medal position.
The experience of Mr Pessoa, who entered the Olympics ranked number one in the world, is being compared to that of fellow Brazilian Olympian Vanderlei de Lima, who was deprived of a gold in the marathon event when he was attacked by Irish priest, Fr Neil Horan.
Plans to bring Mr de Lima to Ireland as guest of honour at the Dublin City Marathon later this month have been postponed as he is bombarded with public engagements after becoming a national celebrity since the incident.
The Olympic Council of Ireland said it is hoped Mr de Lima would now come to Ireland in the New Year.
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