NEWS & MESSAGES
15/04
In this letter
you’ll find
§
Extract
from FEI Press News 30/04,
§
“Endurance
and Doping”, by Suzanne Dollinger
§
FEI
Press News 29/04,
§
FEI
Press News,
§
Extract from FEI Press News 30/04,
Muriel Faienza, FEI Communications
m.faienza@horsesport.org / www.horsesport.org
- 2010 FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG)
Following the request from all three candidates for
the 2010 WEG, Kentucky
(USA), Basse-Normandie (FRA) and Abu Dhabi/Dubai/Sharjah (UAE), the
Executive Board decided to postpone the deadline for submitting the complete
bids until 15 November 2004. The Board members then specified the basic
conditions for the bids.
- 2004 WORLD ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP
The United Emirates Equestrian Federation informed
the FEI that the website
for the Dubai Championship will officially be open on
For more information on the championship and press accreditation, please
contact:
sue@emiratesendurance.com, fax
0097 1 43 30 00 70
§
Endurance & Doping
Suzanne Dollinger
· Within
· According to Bulletins FEI 1/2001 to 4/2004 the MCP has controlled about 4’500
horses from all FEI disciplines throughout
· 180 of the above mentioned horses have been tested by the FEI MCP at
Endurance events in several European countries (BEL, DEN, ESP, FRA, IRL, ITA,
NED, POL, POR, SUI), but mostly in France, Portugal and Ireland. 7 endurance
horses (ca. 4%) had to be disqualified by the Judicial Committee of the FEI for
positive test results.
· Worldwide (not controlled by the FEI MCP), about 20 further horses (7 of
them endurance horses!) had to be disqualified by the Judicial Committee of the
FEI during this time. The total number of controlled horses could not be
evaluated.
· Positive tests in all disciplines are mostly the result of pain and
inflammation management, followed by the category of sedatives.
· Endurance horses have also and mainly been tested positive for the use of anti-inflammatory
drugs like Phenylbutazone, Oxyphenbutazone, Flunixin, Naproxen, Diclofenac and Methylprednisolone.
Other drugs found in endurance horses are diuretics, antitussive, management
for digestive disorders and once caffeine.
Extract
from FEI “Guide to the use & authorisation of veterinary treatment during
an FEI Event”:
“Medication of
horses under FEI rules is strictly controlled and will only be authorised if
the appropriate medication forms have been completed and signed:
Ø Medication Form 1 :
Authorisation
for “Emergency Treatment” (i.e. involving medication with Prohibited
Substances)
Ø Medication Form 2:
Declaration
of treatment with “Altrenogest” (Regumate) for mares
Ø Medication Form 3:
Authorisation
for the use of “Medication not on the Prohibited Substances” list (i.e.
rehydration fluids and antibiotics)
After completing and
signing theses forms the Veterinary Commission/Delegate should give the
provider (i.e. team or treating veterinarian, physiotherapist etc.) a copy of
the medication form which can then be shown to FEI Stewards if necessary. These
forms are only valid for the one event the horse is competing in.”
· Please note:
There
are also anti-doping controls for competitors (“in-competition testing” and
“out of competition” testing).
· Detailed information concerning MCP and all related matters for horses and
riders see FEI website www.horsesport.org
under the rubrics “Veterinary”, “Legal” and “Medical”.
· Website with informations concerning “withdrawal times” and “factors
affecting withdrawal times”: “An Overview of Effective World Rules on Therapeutic
Equine Medication”www.thomastobin.com/rules/
· “Legal procedure” see FEI Press News 29/04 below.
§
FEI Press News 29/04,
Muriel Faienza, FEI Communications
m.faienza@horsesport.org / www.horsesport.org
POSITIVE MEDICATION CASES FOR HORSES
AT 2004 OLYMPIC GAMES
The FEI today announces the
results of the medication controls for the horses sampled during the 2004
Olympic Games in
Forty horses were sampled (20% of the participating horses), and 4 test results
were positive pending any confirmatory analyses.
In accordance with FEI medication control procedures the Persons Responsible (PR)
for the horses testing positive have been contacted through their National
Federations.
FEI procedure is to publish names of horses and riders only once the case has completed
the FEI legal process described below. The FEI may disclose names at an earlier
date if the NF of the rider has agreed.
The procedure for processing these positive medication cases for horses
is as follows; however, it is FEI practice to grant continuances when requested
and cases may therefore take longer to process:
Samples taken from horses participating in the 2004 Olympic Games in
The positive cases were forwarded to the FEI Legal Department by the FEI Veterinary
Department. Standard process time is approximately 1 month from time of
sampling, lab results, approval by FEI Medication Sub-Committee, chain of
custody control by FEI Veterinary Department; these cases have taken just over
one month.
The Persons Responsible (PR) for the horses have been notified of the positive
results via their National Federation (NF). Standard process time is
approximately 1-10 days; these cases have taken 5 days.
The PRs will have ten days from notification of their test results to request a
confirmatory analysis (B-sample) of the initial analysis (A-sample) and to
request an oral hearing before the FEI Judicial Committee.
If a PR does not require a confirmatory analysis, he/she must supply a written
explanation as to how his/her horse tested positive or to request the oral
hearing within ten days after notification of the results.
If a PR requires a confirmatory analysis, the tests will be run again on the split
portion of the sample - the B-sample. The laboratory must begin the testing
within 21 days of the request by the FEI Legal Department (standard testing
time is approximately 1-3 weeks depending on the complexity of the substance(s)).
The PR will be informed of the B-sample results and if positive must provide an
explanation as to how the horse tested positive within ten days of notification
of these results (standard process time approx. 1-10 days).
Once the FEI Legal Department has the explanation from the PR it will compile a
complete case file which will be submitted to the FEI Judicial Committee for
their decision (standard process time approx. 1-10 days).
The PR may alternatively request an oral hearing before the FEI Judicial Committee
which would normally be held during the next scheduled meeting but
may be arranged at an earlier date if necessary. The PR would normally be notified
at the meeting of the decision (approx. 15 days - 3 months).
The majority of positive medication cases are reviewed and decided by the FEI
Judicial Committee by correspondence. Each case is distributed to an investigating
member of the FEI Judicial Committee who is responsible for proposing a
decision. The proposed decision is circulated to the other members for their
approval (5-10 days). The FEI Legal Department informs the PR of the FEI
Judicial Committee's decision via his/her NF (approx. 1-10 days).
The PR has 30 days to appeal the FEI Judicial Committee's decision to the Court
of Arbitration for Sport.
Following the decision of the FEI Judicial Committee, the FEI may decide to review
the results of the Olympic competitions concerned and inform the IOC
accordingly.
The FEI list of prohibited substances for horses is published on the FEI website
www.horsesport.org section veterinary -
medication control. The FEI complete legal procedure for positive medication
cases is published in the section legal - legal procedure.
§
FEI Press News Olympic Update,
Muriel Faienza, FEI Communications
m.faienza@horsesport.org / www.horsesport.org
Double Doping Dilemma: Equestrian
sports unique responsibility
By Bernadette Faurie
Drug testing is integral to
sport, integral to Olympic Games. For a top athlete it is part of life, part of
competition. For the good guys that is as far as it goes. Probably at best it's
just a bore. There is one sport where the process is doubled.
The observers may be medically
qualified and mindfully dispassionate, but public micturition is hardly the
most discrete procedure to be endured. When the medallists leave the arena at
the Markopoulos venue, there the authorities have made every effort to make the
process as easy as possible. You can have a choice of straw or wood-shavings in
your sample collection stall. The human athlete partnered with another living,
breathing athlete of a different species, the horse.
At Olympic level, the three
separate equestrian competitions are Eventing, Dressage and Jumping. A total of
205 horses have arrived at the state-of -the-art Markopoulos Equestrian Centre
from 38 countries of the globe.
Protecting against drug abuse
in equestrian sport is naturally protection against unfair advantage, the
preservation of the integrity of the sport. But there's the other side, the
protection and welfare of the horse.
While the human athlete has
the choice in his own hands, the four-legged athlete is under the human's control.
The International Equestrian Federation, governing body of all three
disciplines, wants each competition to be won fair and square, and to be seen
to have been.
Positive dope tests do occur
in equestrian sport. It is perceived as a clean sport and deserves to be, but
there are exceptions. Fortunately, the statistics show that offenders are
unlikely to get caught out again, and that most cases do not involve
intentional efforts to deceive, merely that the horse has been medicated too
close to a competition. Undoubtedly the market is always one step ahead of the
tests, it always works like that, but with animals there are other facets to
the story.
Frits Sluyter, head of the
International Equestrian Federation's veterinary department, explains that the
issue of the use of drugs - let alone the misuse - is a dilemma. There is far
less data and information available for veterinary pharmaceuticals than for the
human market. And while products used on livestock for human consumption are
routinely tested
to provide information on, say, the length of time the medicine remains in the
animal's body, provision of that sort of information is not routinely available
for the much smaller equine medicine market.
Approximately fifty horses
will be tested throughout the equestrian competitions. The medal winners - both
horses and riders - are tested as a matter of course. The remainder are
selected at random. It's no more than 'pick a number out of a hat' unless a
veterinarian, judge, or official feel a particular case could warrant
investigation.
The Laboratoire de Courses
Hippiques in
"The laboratories are upgrading analytical procedures all the
time" said Sluyter. "Tests are evolving to identify more
sophisticated substances, and further identification of detectable substances is
being fine tuned all the time. The bottom line is that we are interested in any
substance that is still having an effect at the time when the horse is
competing. It is a compromise, and one which is not always that easy."
For the horses, one minefield
that has arisen in recent years is the popularity of herbal feed additives.
Valerian, for example, an herb with tranquillising properties, is now on the
banned list and is being detected. The FEI does not test, nor does it recommend
specific products. But again, the manufacturers' information is a risky
benchmark. Herbal feed additives are popular, but can be unstable in their
composition.
For humans, each sport has its
own list of prohibited substances: Medications that would not affect the
performance of an equestrian rider, for example, could well improve a shooter's
sharpness. But if a human athlete is using a permitted prescription medicine,
the advance declaration TUE (Therapeutic Use Exemption) Standard Application
Form, is the route to declaring why and how much medication is needed. Declare
is the watchword for riders. If a horse needs to be medicated - for example
with so many
horses coming in by air, tranquillising a fretful horse is a safety issue - this
must also be declared immediately upon arrival to the FEI veterinary commission.
There is no accelerated
procedure for the Athens Olympics. Both blood and urine tests are taken - the
combination being the best way of ensuring accuracy. We won't hear during the
Games if a positive test occurs. But the riders themselves as the 'persons
responsible' can take steps to ensure their horses and therefore they
themselves do not suffer the ignominy of a positive test. Gold, silver, bronze
- all far too valuable to throw away. The value of the partnership, trust and
talent of your horse? Incalculable.