QUESTIONS WERE once again raised over Ireland’s Olympic showjumpers last night as ratification of Denis Lynch’s selection for the team for London was put on hold following a request to the Olympic Council of Ireland.
Horse Sport Ireland made the request to hold the showjumper’s selection as one of two Irish riders in the Olympic Games after the horse Lantinus tested positive for hypersensitivity of his legs.
Germany-based Lynch rode Lantinus as a member of the Irish team which finished third in the Nations’ Cup at Aachen, Germany on Thursday.
The horse was disqualified from competing at the remainder of the show yesterday morning.
A spokesman for Horse Sport Ireland said it was “awaiting a full report” from the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) and its own personnel in Aachen.
“In the interim” it had asked the Olympic Council of Ireland to “pause the process of ratifying Denis Lynch’s selection for the Games,” he said.
Through the FEI, Aachen issued its own statement yesterday afternoon outlining the procedure followed at the show.
It said a mandatory “routine boot and bandage control,” was carried out on all horses taking part in the competition.
“One horse was called back for re-examination this morning. The horse, Lantinus, tested positive for hypersensitivity of the legs and, as a result, has been disqualified from the rest of the event.
It said that under the FEI’s rules on hypersensitivity the rider had the “right to request re-examination of the horse within 30 minutes of notification of the decision”.
However “in the interest of the welfare of the horse,” Lynch “did not ask for further re-examination of the horse and accepted the disqualification,” it said.
Horses can incur hypersensitivity in natural circumstances while hypersensitisation is defined as the prohibited artificial production of hypersensitivity.
While Lantinus was disqualified from competing at the remaining days of the show, Lynch is free to continue.
On Tuesday Horse Sport Ireland, which is the Irish governing body for equestrian sport, announced that it had nominated Lynch with horse Abberbvail van het Dingeshof to the Olympic Council of Ireland. It also nominated Billy Twomey (Tinka’s Serenade).
Attempts to contact Tipperary native Lynch were last night unsuccessful.
At the Beijing Games in 2008, when the equestrian events took place in Hong Kong, Lynch was one of four riders suspended from the final round of the individual competition. He had been lying eighth with Lantinus which tested positive for the banned substance, capsaicin. Lynch subsequently received a three-month ban from the FEI.
In 2005 Irish showjumper Cian OConnor was stripped of his 2004 Olympic Gold medal when two human drugs were found in a urine sample taken from his horse Waterford Crystal.