Olympic nightmare - Positive drug test tarnishes gold medal

With the news that Cian O’Connor’s gold medal winning horse tested positive for a performance enhancing drug, the whole Irish Olympic experience of the 2004 Games in Athens is beginning to look like a fiasco.

Only days before the start of the Olympics, Cathal Lombard tested positive for the drug EPO. He had the good grace to come out with his hands up and admit his guilt, but he contended that drug abuse has reached epidemic proportions in the sport.

Since then, questions have been raised about many high-profile athletes, and the Games were somewhat marred by incidents surrounding the failure of the two most famous Greek sprinters to show up for a drugs test. There was also a rash of drug disqualifications, especially in weightlifting and some of the throwing events.

Even though Irish competitors did their best, which is all that could have been asked of them, the outcome was a series of disappointments. Arts, Sport, and Tourism Minister John O’Donoghue left Athens suggesting that it would be 16 years before Ireland would win another gold medal, but he was hardly home when Cian O’Connor won the show jumping competition.

The jubilation was palpable, as it was Ireland’s first Olympic medal in an equestrian event, and it was all the more surprising in the wake of so many disappointments.

Now in the aftermath of the Olympics, the validity of the medal is inevitably being questioned with the news that his horse was one of four that tested positive for a banned substance.

That was the result of tests on the horse’s A sample. Mr O’Connor, who has adamantly protested his innocence, professed to be “utterly devastated” by the news. He has called for the B sample to be tested before issuing any further statement.

He is entitled to due process. Nobody should jump to any conclusions until the other tests have been completed, and he has been afforded an opportunity to explain the situation.

A sedative was professionally administered to the horse following an injury some weeks before the Olympics, but this should have been out of the horse’s system and should not have had a performance enhancing impact in Athens.

It certainly is a trying time for Mr O’Connor, as his Olympic dream is in danger of turning into a nightmare. It could also turn into a distinct setback for the horse industry in this country.

However, coming on the same day as the dreadful news of the horrific murder of Ken Bigley, it is important that people should keep the Olympic story in perspective.