Special report:   2008 Olympic Games     

    HONG KONG, July 7 (Xinhua) -- The Hong Kong Jockey Club announced Monday that they will be offering Post-Arrival Elective Testing (PAET) for all horses coming to Hong Kong for the Beijing Olympic equestrian events.

    To help teams avoid inadvertent infringements, pre-competition testing in the form of PAET will be conducted immediately after the horses' arrival in Hong Kong for the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic equestrian events.

    According to the Jockey Club, PAET will be offered as a voluntary once-off service for all Olympic and Paralympic horses, including reserves, to help teams establish whether residues of legitimate medications are present in urine samples collected well before competition.

    The free-of-charge testing is effectively an advisory health check to help riders abide by the rules of competition and ensure that they do not accidentally fall foul of the regulations.

    Urine samples taken from the Olympic and Paralympic horses within 12 hours of their arrival at the Hong Kong Equestrian Venueat Shatin will be tested for legitimate medications only. It will take three to five days for the results to come out.

    Horses with positive results can submit a further elective testing sample for testing closer to the start of the Games to ensure that any medication residue has been eliminated from the body of the horse.

    The results will remain confidential until after the completion of the Olympic and Paralympic equestrian events.