Bahrain has been stripped of the team world endurance championship, after a horse ridden by one member of the squad tested positive for a banned substance, stanozolol, 16-beta-hydroxystanozolol.
Hera Durances, ridden in the February race in the United Arab Emirates by Abdulrahman Mohammed Alzayed was eliminated and the rider has been fined and suspended for 18 months.
Team Bahrain’s results are void without the three required combination results to count for the ranking. That means second-place France gets the gold, third-place Portugal is silver and fourth-place Italy received bronze.
This places France as number one in the endurance record book for team titles, with five since the first championship in 1986, followed by UAE and Spain, each with three.
“While it is never optimal to have medals re-distributed following an event due to medication control and anti-doping related offenses, we view this as confirmation that the systems we have in place are thorough and effective,” said FEI Legal Director Mikael Rentsch.
“The FEI’s Clean Sport Program has extensive processes to ensure we not only educate the community, but also have the tools to follow up and uphold the rules at play in order to guarantee a level playing field, and safeguard the welfare of our human and equine athletes.”