After being indefinitely suspended by the FEI for a positive test to hydrochlorothiazide*, Czech rider Emma Augier de Moussac now speaks out. 

In a statement, Augier de Moussac explains how she has traced the positive test back to a supplement that was marketed by the producer as being 100% natural. The full statement reads as follows:

"For an aesthetic reason I started to take for a month a food supplement described and sold as being 100% natural, as shown in the package leaflet, the packaging and the website. Multiple comments on different websites praise the fact that it was 100% natural and its effectiveness without any side effects. Following an anti-doping test carried out after a competition, a substance prohibited by anti-doping regulations appeared in the analyzes. Following these results, I immediately carried out a complete analysis of the products which I had used, by a certified laboratory, the results highlighted that: this product was in reality absolutely not 100% natural and that the product consumed contained the prohibited substance found during the inspection.

I accepted a temporary suspension pending the decision of the federation, however, only being a victim of the false advertising carried out by the seller of the food supplement I consumed." 

Augier de Moussac's suspension commenced on the 23rd of December 2019, side-lining the 29-year-old rider from competition.  

*Hydrochlorothiazide is a prohibited substance listed on the World Anti Doping Agency's prohibited substance's list under diuretics and masking agents