Hansen loses bronze medal after horse tests positive

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- Norwegian rider Tony Andre Hansen was stripped of his Olympic bronze medal in team jumping Monday after his horse tested positive for a banned drug at the Beijing Games.
Hansen was disqualified by the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) and banned from the sport for 4½ months.
The 29-year-old Hansen was the best performer on a four-rider Norway team that won bronze under a scoring system in which the top three count.
"We believe this judgment is completely wrong," Hansen told Norwegian Web site VG Nett. "The judgment didn't come as a shock, but it seems clear that we will take this matter further."
Without his scores, his Norway teammates -- Morten Djupvik, Stein Endresen and Geir Gulliksen -- drop out of medal contention.
The fourth-place Switzerland team of Steve Guerdat, Christina Liebherr, Niklaus Schurtenberger and Pius Schwizer will now be awarded the bronze medals by the International Olympic Committee.
The United States won gold, beating Canada in a jumpoff in Hong Kong, where the equestrian events were staged in August.
Hansen's horse, Camiro, tested positive for capsaicin, a banned pain-relieving medication derived from chili peppers.
"This is just the first round. We're not surprised, but we are very disappointed," said Morten Steenstrup, Hansen's lawyer.
Steenstrup added that the traces of capsaicin were so small that "it hasn't had any performance-enhancing effect."
Hansen was provisionally suspended and did not complete the individual jumping competition. His ban Monday was backdated and runs through Jan. 2, 2009.
"[It is each person's] duty to ensure that no prohibited substance is present in his or her horse's body during an event," the FEI said.
The FEI described Hansen as an experienced sportsman with an impeccable record who would suffer the hardship of losing an Olympic medal.
However, the FEI added that "the behavior of anyone at the top of the sport and particularly at the Olympic Games must be faultless."
Hansen faced two daylong hearings, in September and November, at an FEI tribunal before the governing body reached its verdict. The tribunal said Hansen didn't explain how capsaicin came to be present in his horse.
Although the drug can be used out-of-competition as a legal medication, it is also classified as a doping substance if used to inflame a horse's legs. This is done to encourage horses to jump higher because striking an obstacle becomes more painful.
Hansen was fined $2,740. The FEI also ordered him to pay $7,300 toward its legal costs because his defense tactics prolonged the case.
He can appeal the ruling within 30 days to the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS).
It is the sixth and final drug test case from the Olympic equestrian events to be decided.
Hansen is the fourth rider disqualified and suspended in cases involving capsaicin: Germany's Christian Ahlmann was suspended for four months, Brazil's Bernardo Alves for 3½ months, and Irish rider Denis Lynch got a three-month ban.
Ahlmann's ban expired last Thursday but the German equestrian federation has asked CAS to extend it to at least eight months.
Brazil's Rodrigo Pessoa, the individual jumping gold medalist in 2004, was disqualified and banned for 4½ months after his horse tested positive for nonivamide, a banned pain-relieving medication.
Courtney King of the United States was disqualified and banned for one month because her horse Mythilus tested positive for felbinac, a banned anti-inflammatory medication.