Cian O'Connor replaces Denis Lynch at Olympics

Bluefoam

http://www.thescore.ie/cian-oconnor-replaces-lynch-in-irish-olympic-team-516161-Jul2012/

http://thescore.thejournal.ie/we-couldnt-afford-another-dq-at-olympics-say-horse-jumping-chiefs-516367-Jul2012/

What an utter disgrace. <snip>

Odelay

<snip> his eight years have passed. no different to Dwain Chanmbers.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/athletics/9372493/Team-GB-athletics-squad-Dwain-Chambers-goes-from-lifetime-drugs-ban-to-London-2012-Olympics.html

Not a fan or anything <snip> Would the decision maker not know they would be under imense scrutiny in this day and age? Or is this an only in Ireland.....thing?

Again I'm not a fan.

Bluefoam

Well, to begin with there is the issue of the samples that went mysteriously missing 8 years ago... It has also been suggested to me that Lynch was dumped out in order to make space for O'Connor... <snip> I find it odd that even though Lynch has not been found guilty of any wrongdoing, that he was dumped out of the place he earned in order to make space for a <snip> Mod edit: someone whose horse had tested positive for a banned substance.

Imhof Tank

Bluefoam wrote: »

Well, to begin with there is the issue of the samples that went mysteriously missing 8 years ago... It has also been suggested to me that Lynch was dumped out in order to make space for O'Connor... I find it odd that even though Lynch has not been found guilty of any wrongdoing, that he was dumped out of the place he earned in order to make space for a <snip> Mod edit: someone whose horse had tested positive for a banned substance...

What a crock - and I am NOT a CO'C fan by any means.

Lynch was dropped because he has had 3 hypersensitivity disqualifications in the last 12 months alone, and was unable/ unwilling to explain how these cases seem to keep happening to him in particular with such frequency.

He effectively dumped himself out of a place if anything.

MDFM

Bluefoam wrote: »

Well, to begin with there is the issue of the samples that went mysteriously missing 8 years ago... It has also been suggested to me that Lynch was dumped out in order to make space for O'Connor...
I find it odd that even though Lynch has not been found guilty of any wrongdoing, that he was dumped out of the place he earned in order to make space for <snip> Mod edit: someone whose horse had tested positive for a banned substance

So, you're suggesting his selection is based on this? I'm not a C O'C fan, but if you will recall, he was cleared of any intentional wrong doing to the horse (re-2004 Olympics) and has had a clean slate since. Based on his recent performances, in my books, he is a pretty good selection choice. There are other choices though I would have hoped would have being put forward.

Imhof Tank

From HSI:-

HSI's Damian McDonald's explanation of why Lynch was replaced by Cian O'Connor on the Irish Olympic team following the disqualification of Lantinus for hypersensitivity at the Achen Nations Cup event last week:
...

He stated that while

“Hypersensitivity can be naturally occurring and there was no finding of wrong doing against Denis Lynch out of that [...]
“Unfortunately two other horses ridden by Denis in the past twelve months have tested positive for hypersensitivity and that meant this was the third incidence of hypersensitivity. He was disqualified from the Olympics in Beijing in 2008 so obviously that caused us a great deal of concern.

“We have a procedure which is set out in our selection criteria under article 2.8 to deal with matters like this, that was sent to the riders back in 1 March.

“We made it very clear that if we had any concerns about riders that we could require them to appear in front of the monitoring committee and that the monitoring committee could deal them ineligible for selection if their concerns weren’t satisfied.

“On Monday Denis attending a meeting of the monitoring committee in Dublin and after hearing (his) explanation and commitments and so on, the committee decided that its concerns hadn’t been satisfied and we had to take the decision to withdraw Denis’ nomination from the Olympic Council.”

When asked why Lynch’s explanations at the meeting had not satisfied the committee, McDonald pointed to those similar past occurrences of hypersensitivity and concerns that his horse could be disqualified in London.

“I think the reality of the situation is that horses ridden by Denis have been disqualified three times in the past twelve months. If it so happened that Denis’ horse that he was bringing to the games was found to be hypersensitive, even if there was no wrong doing, the horse would be disqualified ...

McDonald stressed that Lynch's disqualification at Aachen wasn't the main reason that Lynch was replaced, instead stating that

“ it’s about concerns we have arising out of the fact that this has happened to a horse ridden by Denis three times in the last twelve months,”

[parts in bold explain the position clearly I think. As for the references to brown envelopes in the OP: conspiracy theories forum ----------->]

Bluefoam

I'm more concerned with the fact that they replaced him with O'Connor. Not a good choice if you want to avoid controversy, considering his past. I'm sure there are other eligible riders...

convert

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Spook58

Definite hatchet job, I listened to his manager on RTE last night. He clarified a lot of the vagueness that HSI put out over the weekend.
Not guilty of anything , not suspected of anything.
The HSI found their excuse to push Lynch out Mod edit: <snip>.
This tarnishes Ireland in teh Olympics if people are not allowed perform based on their merit.

JonathanAnon

On RTE Now... Lynch has launched an appeal today..

At least they are getting the showjumping fiasco over with early at this Olympics..

later12

Don't know how much to say because of the mod warning; so I'll just stick to calling this a farce. Shame that Irish SJ would enlarge its association with O'Connor and in this manner.

Awful for Lynch, nobody I know has anything but respect for him and his professional integrity. Would that we could say the same about other Olympic athletes.