By MARGARET FREEMAN – 2 hours ago

HONG KONG (AP) — Four horses in the Olympic equestrian team jumping competition, including one from Norway’s bronze-medal team, have been provisionally suspended after testing positive for a banned pain reliever.

The drug test results — positive for capsaicin in each case — were announced Thursday afternoon by the sport’s international governing body.

The horse Camiro, ridden by Tony Andre Hansen, was part of Norway’s bronze-medal team, and the team could lose its medal. The other three horses are Ireland’s Lantinus, ridden by Dennis Lynch; Brazil’s Chupa Chup, ridden by Bernardo Alves; and Germany’s Coster, ridden by Christian Ahlmann.

Hansen, Lynch and Alves will not be allowed to ride in Thursday night’s individual competition. Ahlmann wasn’t entered in the event.

A second blood sample for each horse will be tested in an “accelerated procedure,” in the next two days, said FEI secretary general Alexander McLin.

Capsaicin, a derivative of chili peppers, is prohibited for its pain-relieving properties.

“I can’t tell how it was applied,” Paul Farrington of the FEI’s veterinary commission said. “It’s usually in a topical lotion or a paste. It’s not administered by mouth.”

He said 15 of 49 horses in the competition were randomly chosen for testing, including one from each team that won medals.

Former ITU doping cop says:

“There are three main points I want to make here: first, that it is impossible to fairly police and adjudicate drugs in sport; second, that the notion of a “level playing field” is a farce and, finally, that the performance requirements set by the federations at the elite level of sport almost demand access to certain “banned substances” in order to assure the health and vitality of the athlete throughout his or her career and – more importantly – into his or her life after competition.”

Here we go, mice who take a pill and get fit.

Hell, if ESPN became a GM freakshow, I might actually watch it.

A new era is upon us, a post-human era. W00t!