October 13, 2023 
Following a positive drug test for Chinese rider Alex Hua Tian’s horse, Chicko, at CCIO3*-L Millstreet (IRL) in June, Team China has been disqualified.
The Chinese therefore forfeit their second-place result on a finishing score of 207.2. Japan, on a score of 125.7, moves into the runner-up position, earning one of two Paris 2024 Olympic team quota slots at the event (Australia, who took first, went home with the other).
Chicko, who recently finished 9th with Hua Tian at CCI4*-L Blenheim Palace and took second at CCI4*-S Chatsworth back in May, tested positive for the controlled medication Altrenogest (often used to suppress or synchronize estrus in horses) on June 2. In addition to disqualification at Millstreet, Hua Tian, 33, was fined CHF 1,500 ($1,660) and costs of CHF 2,000 ($2,213) for B sample testing.
As this was a first-time, minor offense that did not take place at an Olympic Games or FEI World Equestrian Games, Hua Tian was eligible for—and elected to take—the FEI’s Administrative Procedure (or ‘Fast Track’) option. By paying the fines against him and waiving his right to a final hearing before the FEI Tribunal, Hua Tian is disqualified from the event where the positive sample was taken and loses his medal and prize money, but will not be subject to an FEI suspension.
With only two berths remaining for Olympic eventing team qualification at the Pan American Games, it is clear that China will not field a squad in Paris next year. The list of qualified nations so far include: France, Germany, USA, New Zealand, Great Britain, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, Australia, Italy, and Japan.
