O’Connor stripped of Olympic gold

CIAN O’CONNOR was yesterday stripped of his Olympic gold medal and suspended for three months by the International Equestrian Federation (FEI).

In making its decision, the FEI said there had been a breach of its regulations at the Athens Olympic Games “relating to the presence of the prohibited substances of fluphenazine and zuclopenthixol in Waterford Crystal.”

However, crucially, the FEI said it was satisfied “that the show jumper had established that he was not involved in a deliberate attempt to affect the performance of the horse.”