Denmark’s Stinna Tange Kaastrup and Smarties, double bronze medalists at the Rio 2016 Paralympics, grade 1b. Photo by Liz Gregg/FEI.
In late August the FEI announced that all human and equine samples taken for drug testing during the Olympics came back negative for each of the equestrian disciplines of eventing, show jumping and dressage. Yesterday the FEI announced that all human and equine samples taken during the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games have also returned negative, making for a clean Olympics for equestrian sports across the board.
This announcement also means that both Olympic and Paralympic equestrian sports can celebrate back-to-back clean Games from both London 2012 and Rio 2016.
“We are very proud of our efforts on clean sport at the FEI, working closely with our National Federations and all our athletes, and everyone involved should be proud of our clean Olympic and Paralympic Games record in 2016 and 2012,” said FEI President Ingmar De Vos.
Sixty equine samples were taken during the Olympic Games and 38 were taken during the Paralympic Games. All 98 samples were sent to the FEI Central Laboratory in Great Britain for testing and all returned negative. All human samples taken during the Olympics and Paralympics also returned 100% negative results.
“We actively educated our athletes about the importance of clean sport before both Games in Rio and this is proof that our educational campaign is working,” Ingmar said. “It’s the icing on the cake following such a successful Paralympic Games which saw amazing performances from 75 athletes representing 29 nations.”
The FEI’s Clean Sport campaign began in 2010 as part of an “ongoing educational outreach programme designed to simplify the FEI anti-doping regulations, which are based on World Anti-Doping Authority (WADA) principles.” Learn more about FEI’s Clean Sport Campaign here.
