By Canadian Press

Canada to return to Olympic team show jumping with Pan American Games silver

Nov 1, 2023 | 3:15 PM

SANTIAGO — Canada will return to Olympic team showing jumping next year in Paris.

Canada’s riders and horses earned the team silver medal Wednesday at the Pan American Games to qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games.

Mario Deslauriers (Emerson), Tiffany Foster (Figor), Amy Millar (Truman) and Beth Underhill (Nikka vd Bisschop) finished behind victor United States and ahead of bronze medallist Brazil.

The top three countries in the team event not already qualified for Paris earned those spots in Santiago at Grenadier Regiment Riding School.

Canada will send full equestrian teams to Paris in dressage, eventing and jumping after qualifying in all three disciplines in Santiago.

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Canada lost its show jumping team berth for Tokyo’s Olympic Games in 2021 over coca tea.

While the Court of Arbitration for Sport determined Nicole Walker had inadvertently ingested a cocaine metabolite drinking South American tea at the 2019 Pan Am Games in Lima, Peru, the Canadian team was not reinstated for Tokyo.

Coca tea is legal and consumed in several South American countries. Coca tea is considered an altitude sickness remedy in Peru.

But Walker was nevertheless stripped of her results in Lima after testing positive for benzoylecgonine on the day of the team final.

Canada’s team tumbled from fourth to seventh and out of the last qualifying berth for Tokyo.

While CAS stated Walker of Aurora, Ont., did not intentionally take a prohibited substance, the body determined she and other competitors were contractually bound by Pan Am Sports anti-doping rules, and CAS couldn’t overrule them.

Foster, Millar, Eric Lamaze and Yann Candele lost a jump-off for the bronze medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, where Lamaze earned individual bronze.

Lamaze, Ian Millar, Jill Henselwood and Mac Cone earned Olympic team silver in 2008, when Lamaze also won individual gold.

Also Wednesday, fencer Ruien Xiao, wrestler Nishan Randhawa, table tennis players Eugene Wang and Mo Zhang and squash player Hollie Naughton all won bronze medals.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 1, 2023.

The Canadian Press