The FEI has suspended Eric Lamaze, the 2008 Olympic show jumping individual gold medalist, for four years on a tampering charge. It’s in connection with an anti-doping rule violation when he ducked a test in 2021.
Lamaze, who served as the Canadian show jumping technical advisor last year, claimed for years that he has brain cancer. But the FEI stated he committed a human anti-doping rule violation “due to the submission of fabricated medical documents during an ongoing CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) proceeding.”
He was “deemed to have waived a hearing, admitted the violation, and accepted the proposed consequences because he did not respond to the charge,” according to the FEI.
Eric Lamaze and Hickstead after winning gold at the 2008 Olympics. (Photo © 2008 by Nancy Jaffer)
In the absence of mitigating circumstances, Lamaze received the suspension from Sept. 12, 2023 through Nov. 9, 2027. He was fined 15,000 Swiss francs and required to reimburse the FEI for its legal costs in the matter.matter.
Lamaze retired from riding in competition in 2022, citing the cancer, which he contended kept him from appearing in court. He has been sued by several owners who bought horses through him and has claimed in published reports that he has financial problems.
The rider has quite a tangled history, from the depths to the heights and back again. He missed two Olympics (1996 and 2000) due to prohibited substance positives. An independent arbitrator rescinding his lifetime ban from the sport paved the way for him to rise again.
In 2008, he did that in spectacular fashion, assuring the Canadian team of a silver medal at the Olympics in Hong Kong, then going on to take the historic individual gold in a jump-off aboard Hickstead.
There was mourning in equestrian circles and beyond in 2011 when Hickstead dropped dead after his round at the Verona, Italy show. At the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto that autumn, people wore black armbands in memory of the stallion.