The FEI Judicial Committee officially published today, May 25, their 16-page decision concerning the positive medication test result of Waterford Crystal, the Olympic show-jumping individual gold medalist with Cian O’Connor of Ireland. The four-member committee made its decision on March 27, after which O’Connor declined to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The FEI found that “Waterford Crystal, and the Person Responsible [O’Connor] must be disqualified from the event and that all prizes and prize money won at the event must be forfeited. Waterford Crystal and [O’Connor] are suspended for a period of three months, which commenced on April 11, 2005.”

The re-distribution of the individual Olympic medals, giving Brazil’s Rodrigo Pessoa the gold, the U.S.’s Chris Kappler the silver, and Germany’s Marco Kutscher the bronze, still needs to be confirmed by the International Olympic Committee.

O’Connor steadfastly maintained his innocence throughout his appeal process. Waterford Crystal tested positive for trace amounts of Fluphenazine and Zuclopenthixol, two human anti-psychotic drugs.

In his testimony, O’Connor admitted that on July 22, 2004, one month before the Olympics, “Waterford Crystal had incurred a mild fetlock injury, and after assessment, his veterinarian, Mr. James Sheeran, had advised hydrotherapy treatment, which involves confinement in an enclosed hydrotherapy unit. Since the horse was in peak fitness, it was feared he may injure himself during the treatment, so the veterinary surgeon prescribed mild sedation.” Waterford Crystal was to receive hydrotherapy twice a day for six days. O’Connor’s veterinarian further explained the treatment in his testimony. “As Waterford Crystal is not easy to handle and in particular, not easy to inject medication to, and since it was feared that Waterford Crystal would injure himself during the treatment, Dr. Sheeran prescribed one injection of a combination of Fluphenazine and Zuclopenthixol in order to mildly sedate Waterford Crystal during treatment,” states the FEI report.

FEI officials’ decision reflected that O’Connor had provided sufficient evidence so that “the Judicial Committee is satisfied that Waterford Crystal received no specific competitive advantage at the event and that [O’Connor] had not acted in a manner intended to enhance the performance of the horse or gain any unfair advantage in the competition.”

But “the Judicial Committee does not consider the treatment given to Waterford Crystal as a legitimate treatment, since alternative treatments were available using drugs that are typically used in the treatment of horses.

“The Judicial Committee takes into account the fact that [O’Connor] is an experienced sportsman, that he is a role model to many, and that behavior of anyone at the top of the sport, and particularly at the Olympic Games, must be faultless since the eyes of the world focus on performances at such events,” states the Judicial Committee in its report.