Liability laws undermine O'Connor's defence

SUNDAY'S ruling in the Cian O'Connor case by the Judicial Committee of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) will probably come as something of a relief to sports administrators tasked with the duty of maintaining the fight against doping.

Despite the irregularities that surrounded the sampling process in this case (with the spectacular theft of a sample from a laboratory in England), the Judicial Committee felt it could rely on the combination of urine and blood tests, respectively the A and B samples.

In the Committee's opinion the relevant provision of the Veterinary Regulations allowed it to rely on this combination.