Ireland's only medal from the Athens Olympics is officially gone, following confirmation yesterday that the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) has received notification from Cian O'Connor's solicitor that he will not be appealing against the decision to strip the showjumper of his gold medal.
"They asked me to put it in writing to confirm that we weren't appealing," solicitor Andrew Coonan told The Irish Times last night.
O'Connor, whose horse Waterford Crystal tested positive for two banned substances in Athens, came before the FEI's judicial committee in Zurich on Easter Sunday.
Under international equestrian rules, a positive dope test means automatic disqualification, but although the judicial committee stripped the Irish pair of the gold medal and imposed a three-month ban on the rider, O'Connor's statement that there had been no deliberate attempt to enhance the horse's performance was accepted.
The judicial committee's findings were published on the FEI website on May 23rd, and O'Connor's legal team then had a month to lodge an appeal. However, Mr Coonan opted to send official notification to the FEI headquarters in Lausanne that there would be no appeal before the full month elapsed.
The FEI has now officially informed the International Olympic Committee, which will take care of redistributing the medals. Brazil's Rodrigo Pessoa will now be promoted to gold, with the US's Chris Kappler taking silver ahead of Germany's Marco Kutscher.