The Belgian doping case at the Paris Olympics
Isn't that just the absolute weirdest thing that ever came to light? Not that the horse ended up on the positive side of a doping test. But more the after math of this bizarre story.
Some of the key players in this twisted case are; the rider, the doped up horse and the team vet.
According to the third paragraph in Article 118 in the FEI General regulations for competition the PR - person responsible - for a horse is the athlete. Others can be included into this, but the main person responsible for the horse is the rider.
FEI General Regulations Article 118.3 - The Person Responsible shall be the Athlete who rides, vaults or drives the Horse during an Event, but the Owner and other Support Personnel including but not limited to grooms and veterinarians may be regarded as additional Persons Responsible if they are present at the Event or have made a relevant Decision about the Horse. In vaulting, the lunger shall be an additional Person Responsible. In Endurance, the Trainer shall be the additional Person Responsible.
When the case came back from the FEI Tribunal the veterinarian on duty had been pinpointed as "the bad guy". The PR was basically cleared while the veterinarian "on call" was labelled the bad guy.
The FEI further noted, in the present matter, the failure of the NF and the Team Vet to provide products that are safe to use. According to the FEI, a question arises as to why, in such a professional environment, the important task of complying with anti-doping obligations is outsourced to a person, that is not compliant with the recommendations of FEI Clean Sport, and there was no suggestion in the evidence that the Team Vet advised the PR of the dangers related to the use of supplements for Horses. To the contrary, he instead recommended the PR to use a number of supplements in an extensive supplement regime.
Thanks to how some media outlets - that shall rename name less - choose to report about the story this particular veterinarian, who actually is known for being one of those immaculately and careful people in relation to doping, plus the product itself and the company behind were suddenly painted out being the bad seeds.
Suddenly everybody seemed to think the veterinarian intentionally distributed a drug he knew contained Tradozone.
When he, just as the rider [the Person Responsible] based on the information on hand thought the product to be safe, and allowed to use in competition.
☕ Buy Me a Coffee
Hoofbeat Online is an independent publication. As such there is no big publishing house picking up the bills. To help support independent publishing and journalism, please consider a smaller contribution. You can explore your options [risk free] via the Buy Me a Coffee button💗
In a weird twist of faith the Person Responsible - turned into some modern version of Joan of Arc. Suggesting her to be all clear from guilt in this drama.
The bad guy was now the veterinarian, plus the Belgian federation, and last but not least the company behind the product.
To some of us it started to smell a little bit like a personal vendetta against the company behind the marketing and production of the product.
But then there was silence, the fact that the producer made an official statement about the whole thing quietly passed by.
Press release:Â Contamination of Relax Pro with Trazodone
It was recently announced that a batch of Relax Pro contaminated with Trazodone led to a positive doping test for the horse Dia van het Lichterveld Z, ridden by Belgian eventing athlete Tine Magnus during the Olympic Games in Paris.
We deeply regret this incident—for Tine Magnus, for the entire Belgian eventing team, and for the equestrian sport as a whole. This is not a case of deliberate doping aimed at enhancing performance but rather an unfortunate case of contamination. As soon as thorough research confirmed that a batch of Relax Pro contained traces of Trazodone, Global Medics transparently communicated this objective information on its official website, pending further in-depth investigation.
Immediate measures taken
Although this situation is beyond our control, we take it extremely seriously and have taken immediately took responsibility and took the following measures:
As a precaution, the affected batches (24D02CA and CA/23J31) were immediately withdrawn from the market. If you, as an end user, still have Relax Pro in your possession with the mentioned lot numbers, please contact Global Medics immediately regarding the product return. We emphasize that at no point was there any risk to equine health, as this was an accidental contamination with an extremely low concentration and thus a clinically irrelevant dose of Trazodone. We can also confirm with certainty that all newly produced products are completely free of this contamination.
Our production is outsourced to the external manufacturer Unicum Trade Botanicals, while Global Medics focuses on product development, innovation and distribution. Unicum Trade Botanicals is a respected Belgian producer of nutritional supplements for both human and veterinary use, supplying not only Global Medics but also numerous other equine supplement distributors.
Global Medics has appointed a legal expert to conduct an objective and legally sound investigation into the exact origin of the contamination in the specific batch of Relax Pro. Current findings indicate that the contamination occurred at the production level, resulting from a contaminated magnesium raw material sourced from Spain. This tainted magnesium, used by Unicum Trade Botanicals in the production of Relax Pro, contained traces of Trazodone. Investigations are still ongoing to determine exactly how this occurred.
Commitment to quality and safety
For nearly 30 years, Global Medics has been committed to providing high-quality supplements to support equine health, with a worldwide distribution network. Throughout these three decades, this is the first time we have faced a positive doping test.
While Tine Magnus is undoubtedly the greatest victim of this situation, Global Medics has also suffered significant reputational and business damage. We emphatically state that Trazodone was never intentionally added to our products, contrary to some insinuations in equestrian media and on social platforms. This contamination occurred entirely outside of our control, at the raw material supplier level.
A broader issue in the industry
This incident raises an important question: how can supplement distributors and riders protect themselves from unforeseen contaminations of this nature? It is concerning and disappointing that, in such crisis situations, there is not more unity and understanding within the industry to support Tine Magnus and collectively seek solutions for the future.
We remain fully committed to transparency, innovation and the highest quality standards.
In the meantime, we are allowing the experts to complete their investigation, and once the legal inquiry is concluded, we will share the full, objective story.
Hear and behold..
One would have thought some of the equine media outlets both local to Belgium and internationally had paid more attention to this. But suddenly it was quiet.
Till last week, then BAM. A well known Belgian veterinarian suddenly stepped into the spotlight. After writing a long chronicle that was published in a Dutch, not Belgian, equestrian magazine.
In his chronicle he blamed the Belgian federation for the doped up horse, then he moved on talking about ethical concerns regarding the veterinarian of the Belgian team and how the poor rider was left to take the fall while those responsible escape consequences.
He finished the whole thing off with how this sheds a new light on the lack of accountability in equestrian sports, and exposing how easy it is for riders to be abandoned in doping scandals.
With that in mind, let's go back to article 118 in the General regulations shall we!
Article 118 -Person Responsible
The Person Responsible for a Horse has legal responsibility for that Horse, including responsibility under the GRs [general regulations] and the VRs [veterinary regulations] and unless otherwise stated is liable under the Legal System (Chapter VIII).
It is the obligation of the Person Responsible and of every other person subject to the Statutes, GRs and Sport Rules to know the Statutes, GRs and relevant Sport Rules, and lack of such knowledge does not relieve these persons from liabilities under the Statutes, GRs and Sport Rules.
The Person Responsible shall be the Athlete who rides, vaults or drives the Horse during an Event, but the Owner and other Support Personnel including but not limited to grooms and veterinarians may be regarded as additional Persons Responsible if they are present at the Event or have made a relevant decision about the Horse. In vaulting, the lunger shall be an additional Person Responsible. In Endurance, the Trainer shall be the additional Person Responsible.
How come a veterinarian who did his first Olympics in Los Angeles in 1984, and was the team vet on call for at least 5 different nations at the Olympic Games in Barcelona back in 1992 seem blissfully unaware of the rules and regulations that stipulate the sport of today, on the topic on who is in fact the Person Responsible?
Something doesn't add up here, making me go back to that nagging feeling that the whole aftermath of this case has turned into a personal vendetta against the Belgian team vet and his friends in business.
Equine Care Group
So I dug a bit further on this particular guy, which made me end up finding him as one of the team members in a company that hear and behold produce and sell supplements for sports horses.
For the nice price of €199,76 you can buy 600grams of his "very own" version of a calmer and de stress product for your horse.
DBS De-Stress
Analytical composition:
Crude protein 19.19% | Crude fat 0.00% | Crude ash 2.98% | Crude fiber 0.00% | Sodium 0.00%
Feed materials:
Magnesium chloride, magnesium bisglycinate, humulus lupulus, ballota nigra powder, hydrolysate of cow’s milk protein
Additives:
Vitamins, provitamins –
thiamine mononitrate (3a821) 21,070 mg/kg |Â Vitamin B2, riboflavin (3a825ii) 14,141 mg/kg | Vitamin B6, pyridoxine hydrochloride (3a831) 14,112 mg/kg
Amino acids – L-Tryptophan (3c440) 156,600 mg/kg
For €167 you can get one litre of Global Medics Relax Pro that was the base for this whole case in the first place. Or you can just buy a tube of the Take it Easy Forte paste via the FEI sponsor Cavalor..
This story just gets more and more bizarre by the minute.
Even so, when having all these cards on the table the initial idea and feeling that the whole situation is in fact is some kind of personal vendetta seems more likely than ever before. Guess we haven't heard the end of it just yet!
Hoofbeat Online (@hbohorse.bsky.social)
Do you have any thoughts on this? Don't forget to forward it to a friend and share your thoughts in the comment section. Promise not to bite 🤗