Olympic showjumping champion provisionally banned after two horses return failed doping tests

Olympic champion Steve Guerdat has been provisionally suspended after two of his horses returned positive doping tests ©Getty Images

London 2012 Olympic showjumping champion Steve Guerdat of Switzerland has been provisionally suspended by the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) after two of his horses returned positive doping tests at the Nations Cup show in La Baule, France, in May.

Nino de Buissonets, the horse which Guerdat rode to glory three years ago, provided samples which contained banned substances codeine and oripavine, as well as controlled medication substance morphine.

The other of Guerdat's rides embroiled in the doping storm is Nasa, whose samples also contained prohibited painkillers codeine and morphine, as well as traces of oripavine.

Guerdat’s compatriot Alessandra Bischsel’s horse Charivari KG also tested positive for the three substances and she has been hit with a provisional suspension, while the horses in question have been banned for two months.

Both Guerdat, an Olympic bronze medallist at Beijing 2008, and Bischel’s suspensions will be backdated to July 20, the day of the notification of the positive tests, pending a preliminary hearing before the FEI Tribunal.

It has been claimed that the cases could be as a result of poppy seeds contaminating the horses feed, which would rid the riders of blame, but FEI secretary general Sabrina Zeender said the governing body “would still follow standard procedure”.

Switzerland's Steve Guerdat has been hit with a provisional suspension prior to a full FEI Tribunal hearing ©Getty Images

She added: “The presence in all these samples of oripavine, which is not found in any veterinary products, suggests that this could be contamination, but obviously we still have to follow standard procedure.

“The combination of oripavine, morphine and codeine have frequently been seen in contamination cases from other equestrian sport regulators, and the FEI already has three outstanding cases from 2014 involving oripavine and Morphine in which we proactively sought the lifting of the provisional suspensions.

“As the regulator of international equestrian sport, we have to balance fairness to the athletes with our dual role of protecting horse welfare and maintaining a level playing field.”

As a result in the increased number of contamination cases involving poppy seeds, the FEI opted to downgrade morphine from a banned substance to a controlled medication in 2013.

Horses found with the substance often lead to less severe punishment being handed out to the rider.

It follows three such cases last year where Vitess SC, ridden by Greece’s Monika Martini, Chenna van de Spek of the Netherlands’ Kinka’s Boy and Heartbeat ridden by France’s Julien Anquetin all tested positive for similar substances but the provisional bans were then lifted by the FEI Tribunal in December of last year, though the cases remain ongoing.