China’s equestrian star Hua Tian saddened after disqualification from Olympic team event

Hua Tian competes at the Asian Games on October 2, 2023. Photo: VCG

China's elite equestrian Alex Hua Tian said he was saddened about disqualification from team qualification for the 2024 Paris Olympics due to his racing horse Chicko testing positive for controlled medication during the Olympic qualifier in June.

Chicko, a 13-year-old gelding, and Hua finished fifth individually and helped the Chinese team to both third place and an Olympic spot in the Olympic qualifier held in Millstreet, Ireland from May 31 to June 4. But the horse later tested positive for a controlled medication, altrenogest. 

Altrenogest is recognized as a substance that is deemed to have therapeutic value and is commonly used in equine medicine, but it cannot be present in geldings or stallions during competition. It is listed as a controlled medication for geldings and stallions on the clean sport database of the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI).

"As a passionate supporter of clean sport, with a pristine record at international level for 18 years and knowing how careful we are as a team, I was in total shock," said Hua, noting that he was notified of the positive test on July 10. 

"The occurrence of this incident warned me that I still need to improve my management and professional learning."

He said he is in "total disbelief" and his investigation, carried out by a team of experts, found that the trace amount of altrenogest detected was owing to Chicko eating contaminated hay from the next-door stable at the event.

The Chinese Equestrian Association said on October 11 that the case is a first since the association became a member of the FEI. 

"This the first time since our association joined the FEI family that there has been a positive controlled substance problem in our horses," a statement said. 

"This is another reminder that we are facing a more complex anti-doping problem than before, and that we need to intensify our research and study of the use of FEI-controlled substances in horses and their susceptibility to cross-infection, to ensure that we can do a good job in the prevention, control and management of anti-doping."

It reiterated that the Chinese equestrian governing body will not condone or tolerate the use of doping or controlled substances by athletes and horses, and is determined to fight against doping and controlled substance violations.