It’s been almost 18 months since the close of the 2004 Athens Olympics, but only now will the U.S. show jumping team officially receive their team gold medals. The squad, Chris Kappler, Beezie Madden, Peter Wylde and McLain Ward, will receive their gold medals in a special ceremony in Wellington, Fla., on Sunday, Feb. 5, just before the Gold Coast Jumper Classic Grand Prix.

Chris Kappler will also receive the individual silver medal he earned on Royal Kaliber.

The medals are coming as the result of drug testing that eliminated both of the Olympic gold medalists in the months that followed. Ludger Beerbaum was disqualified from the Nations Cup because Goldfever tested positive for Betamethasone, knocking Germany out of the top position; and Ireland’s Cian O’Connor’s horse Waterford Crystal tested positive for two sedatives, knocking him from the individual gold.

In Athens, the U.S. team out-galloped Sweden in a jump-off for the silver medal, while Royal Kaliber broke down in the individual silver medal jump-off, leaving Kappler with the bronze medal behind Rodrigo Pessoa on Baloubet de Rouet. Pessoa, the 1998 World Champion, is now the Olympic gold medalist.

The U.S. team had been scheduled to receive their medals at a reception in New York City in mid-November, but the Germans didn\’t return the gold medals in time.

Joe Fargis, Conrad Homfeld and Leslie Howard-three of the four team members who won the last U.S. show jumping gold medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics will present the medals, along with David O’Connor, the 2000 individual gold medalist in eventing.