Four countries in the Olympic Games showjumping finals have been provisionally suspended after their horses returned positive drug tests.
The international equestrian federation revealed that the four names missing from last night's start list in Hong Kong, included the No 1 ranked Norwegian Tony Andre Hansen, were suspended after their horses tested positive for the banned substance capsaicin.
The drug has hypersensitising as well as pain relieving properties and a test to detect it has only recently been discovered.
The same substance was detected in all four cases and the quartet will remained suspended until the results of B samples are known.
That outcome is likely to result in Norway losing the bronze medal in the teams' competition, an event in which Hansen played an influential role for the Scandinavian team with just the one time penalty.
New Zealand's Kirk Webby tumbled out of contention early in the finals.
Eric Lamaze captured the showjumping gold after two jump-offs, despite two lifetime drug bans. Thrown off the Canadian team for the 1996 Atlanta and 2000 Sydney Games after testing positive for cocaine on two separate occasions, Lamaze was back in the saddle in Beijing and on top of the podium after beating Sweden's Rolf-Goran Bengtsson in a second jump-off.
