Although an official hearing still has to be held, the Olympic doping charges levelled against Norwegian equestrian athlete Tony Andre Hansen and his horse Camiro have been confirmed. If Hansen cannot provide evidence refuting the doping allegations, the International Equestrian Federation (IEF) will take back his bronze medal, according to Aftenposten.

Hansen says he will fight the charges all the way to the end since he and his team still can’t understand how the banned substance capsaicin got onto his Read the full story

Doping tests on Camiro, the horse ridden by Norwegian Tony Andre Hansen in the Olympics team jumping event, have come back positive. Both the horse and rider have been suspended from further Olympic events and face losing the bronze medal if a second doping test proves positive.

Hansen, who is one of the world’s best equestrians, was barred from competing in the individual jumping competition, an event in which he had an excellent chance of taking home gold. Norway’s entire equestrian team is shell-shocked, unable to explain how an illegal substance got into their horse Camiro.

International Equestrian Federation (IEF) officials issued a preliminary report stating a banned salve that reduces pain, capsaicin, had been found on Camiro’s legs. Speaking to Aftenposten, Hansen said he could not understand why the salve would have been on Camiro’s legs because the horse was in excellent form at the time of the event. “I feel really down right now,” Hansen admitted. “This is a huge shock for me. I don’t have any explanation for how this could have happened, and I need time to figure it out.”

Although Olympic officials have yet to confirm that Norway will be stripped of its bronze medal in the team event, it seems likely. Three other horses from Ireland, Brazil, and Germany also tested positive in the A-test for capsaicin and were summarily suspended. Norwegian sports officials pride themselves on being leaders in the campaign against doping, so this news comes as a painful blow to their reputation.

Norway wrapped up its efforts at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics with two more golds and one silver in the nation’s final events, bring its total to ten medals. A highlight was the women’s handball team, which secured the gold and became overnight national heroes after defeating favourites Russia in the final.

Norway’s overall medal count from the 2008 Olympics consists of three gold, five silver and two bronze medals. The Nordic nation managed to win four more medals than their last outing in the 2004 Athens games.

Although all the Norwegian athletes performed admirably, the women’s handball team provided a huge thrill with their emphatic 34-27 victory over rivals Russia in the final match. Throughout the Olympics Russia seemed unstoppable at handball, progressing easily to the final medal round.

The Norwegian women, however, dominated the final handball match from the opening whistle. It was a particularly satisfying victory for coach Marit Breivik, who enjoyed winning her first Olympic medal. In other final events, Andreas Thorkildsen clinched the gold in javelin by throwing 90.57 metres. Nina Solheim took the silver in the women’s taekwondo, losing out to Mexico’s Maria del Rosario Espinoza.

Norway still faces the possibility of having its bronze medal in equestrian team jumping stripped over doping allegations. But overall, Norwegian athletics boss Jarle Aambo was proud of his countrymen, telling Aftenposten, “Given our Norwegian culture, conditions [for summer sports] and limitations, I feel great pride. All of our athletes have performed at top levels.”

Iceland was defeated by France 28-23 in the very closely watched final game of the Olympic men’s handball game which brought the country on Sunday morning to a standstill.

Iceland managed to take the lead only for a few minutes at the beginning of the first half but then paid dearly for concentrating on their technique rather than responding to France’s defence.

The Icelandic handball team first appeared at the Summer Olympic Games in 1972 when it came 12th. Beijing 2008 Olympics was their tenth Olympic participation with the best result so far; they came 4th in 1992.

“We are only 300,000 people,” Gudmundur Ingvarsson, president of the Iceland Handball Federation, said. “What do you expect?”

France’s only Olympic medal in this European-dominated sport was a bronze in 1992. They got three gold medals – two in the World Handball Championship (in 1995 and 2001) and one in the European championship (2006).

Iceland has never won a gold medal in any Olympic sport. That includes the Winter Games, despite the seeming advantage of having a winter-sport playing surface in the nation’s name. Iceland has won three Olympic medals in its history, all in individual summer sports — a triple-jump silver in 1956 (Vilhjalmur Einarsson), a judo bronze in 1984 (Bjarni Fridriksson) and a pole-vault bronze in 2000 (Vala Flosadottir).

As Iceland crushes Spain in the men’s handball semi-finals, the players and the country gets huge support for their effort for gold at the Olympics.

Here are some remarks made at Icenews and other media:

“I am one of those 310.000 proud Icelanders. You should also not forget that along the way we have also won the European champions Denmark, the world champions Germany and former Olympic champions Russia. The Vikings from Iceland showed their real face!”

“Here in Sweden we are very excited about Icelands victory in the semifinals. Sweden has no gold in these Olympics and personally I don’t think we’ll get one. But a goldmedal in handball for our brothers in Iceland certainly would ease our pain.”

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