Showjumping Controversy Rages

By Mairead Carey

One of Ireland’s leading showjumpers has pulled out of next week’s Dublin Horse Show in a dispute over the return of controversial rider Cian O’Connor to the team.

Jessica Kurten had threatened to boycott O’Connor after the 25-year-old showjumper was sensationally stripped of his Olympic gold medal in March after the International Equestrian Federation found that his horse had banned substances in its system.

Following the verdict, Kurten declared that she would not ride on any Irish team with O’Connor, and true to her word, she has withdrawn from next week’s Dublin Horse Show, even though her two horses were confirmed as definite starters only last Wednesday.

Reports that she withdrew from the team for medical reasons were denied by her husband Eckhard Kurten. “Our horses are fine,” he told reporters. “Not one horse is sick, not one horse is lame.”

The team’s selectors have said that they are very disappointed at her decision.

O’Connor has refused to comment on Kurten’s withdrawal but says that he is “delighted” to be back on the Irish team. He had been banned from the sport for three months, but the ban expired on July 10.

“It’s vital now that the team members pull together for the remaining rounds of the super league,” he said.

O’Connor won Ireland’s only Olympic medal at last year’s games on the Tony O’Reilly-owned horse Waterford Crystal. But controversy quickly followed when it emerged that the horse tested positive for a banned substance. In another dramatic turn, a urine sample taken from Waterford Crystal was stolen before it could be tested.

O’Connor was stripped of his medal at a meeting of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) judicial committee in Zurich on Easter Sunday, but was cleared of any deliberate attempt to enhance the horse’s performance.