Changes to Olympic format

Only three per equestrian team, with one reserve who will play a more important part in the competition.

voteThe all-important vote happened last night (NZ time) and while New Zealand did not support the change, the majority did and that means only three per team for equestrian events at the next Olympics (2020 in Tokyo).

There is still one hurdle to jump before the changes are definite, but it is unlikely that the IOC Executive Board will withhold their final approval in 2017.

The outcome of the vote means that the number of athletes in national teams will be reduced to three, and the drop score, which previously allowed for a team’s worst score to be discarded, will be removed. The use of a reserve combination for teams will remain in place, but will be even more important. 

Equestrian Sport New Zealand’s CEO, Vicki Glynn, attended the meeting and voted against the change. The other countries who voted against it were Albania, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Latvia, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, Romania and Switzerland. In other words, only 11 of the 107 countries represented. It’s interesting that France, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland didn’t want the change, yet Great Britain, USA and Australia – the other very successful countries in equestrian events – obviously did. One of the arguments given was that the change would allow more countries to be represented, but this has the negative effect of potentially reducing it from being the pinnacle of all equestrian competitions.  The USEF President-Elect, Murray Kessler, was quoted as saying;

“After careful assessment with much involvement from key stakeholders, we came to the conclusion that without the change in Olympic format, it was likely that one of our Olympic disciplines would be dropped from future Olympic Games. This would be unacceptable.”

Winning a gold medal will hopefully continue to be a highlight for any rider, and while no doubt everyone will adapt, there will have to be different tactics used from a team perspective.

On the positive side of things, perhaps this will mean that we will be able to get more show jumpers and dressage riders to the Olympics. We will have to wait and see!

The Details

Voting on the proposed sport-specific changes to the three individual Olympic disciplines – jumping, dressage and eventing – was unanimously in favour. The vote on the Paralympic formats saw one National Federation – Great Britain – against the proposed changes.

“This was a really important vote for the future of our sport if we are to increase universality in accordance with the recommendations of Olympic Agenda 2020,” FEI President Ingmar De Vos said after the vote.

“We need to increase the number of participating nations at the Olympic Games but within our existing quota of 200. Reducing team members to three per nation was probably the only way to boost the number of flags. Of course this now has to be approved by the IOC, but it opens the door to countries that previously could only see the Olympics as a distant dream.

“There were some National Federations that didn’t agree with the proposal, but that’s all part of the democratic process. Now we need to work together to make this a success.”

FEI Sports Forum™ 2016 FEI President Ingmar De Vos
FEI Sports Forum™ 2016 FEI President Ingmar De Vos

The proposed changes are detailed below:

Jumping

  • Teams of three horse/athlete combinations per nation, plus one reserve combination, no drop score
  • 20 teams (60 horse/athlete combinations)
  • 15 slots for nations not qualified with a team (maximum one  horse/athlete combination per nation)
  • Individual event will now take place before Team event
  • Cut-off score: the exact cut-off and resulting penalty will be finalised in the Olympic Regulations
  • The exact penalty for any horse/athlete combination that is eliminated, or does not complete their round for any reason, will be finalised in the Olympic Regulations

Dressage

  • Teams of three horse/athlete combinations per nation, no drop score
  • Each directly qualified team may bring a reserve rider/horse combination, or horse only
  • One individual per nation not represented by a qualified team (no composite teams)
  • Determine Team medals solely through results of Grand Prix Special (no longer a combination of Grand Prix and Grand Prix Special scores)
  • Introduce new “heat system” (including “lucky losers”) for Grand Prix: 18 individuals to qualify from Grand Prix to Grand Prix Freestyle (best two from each of the six heats, plus the next six with the best overall results) 
  • Eight top teams (24 starters) from Grand Prix to qualify for Grand Prix Special
  • Introduce new system for starting order in Grand Prix
  • Conduct Grand Prix Special to music

Eventing

  • Teams of three horse/athlete combinations per nation, no drop score
  • One reserve combination per team will be allowed. The reserve combination is an important element of the proposal in order to preserve horse welfare. If a reserve combination is substituted, it will incur a penalty for the team. The exact penalty will be finalised in the Olympic Regulations
  • Maximum of two individuals per nation not represented by a team
  • Order of tests to remain unchanged (1: dressage; 2: cross-country; 3: team jumping; 4: individual jumping)
  • Competition to take place over three days (dressage test reduced to one day)
  • Technical level of the three tests to be defined as the “Olympic level”: dressage and jumping 4*; cross-country: 10-minute optimum time, 45 jumping efforts, and 3* technical difficulty
  • Qualification of athletes/horses to be achieved on the same cross-country technical level to ensure implementation of the recommendations of the FEI Independent Audit in Eventing
  • For the purpose of the Team classification only: any horse/athlete combinations not completing a test can continue to the next test if accepted as fit to compete at the relevant Horse Inspection
  • For the purpose of the Team classification only: penalties for the non-completion of a test for any reason, dressage =100 points, cross-country = 150, jumping = 100
  • Rules for the Individual event remain unchanged

Para-Equestrian Dressage

  • Teams of three horse/athlete combinations per nation, no drop score
  • Each directly qualified team is entitled to bring four horse/athlete combinations, of which three will have to be declared to compete on the team after the Individual Championships test, in which all four will compete as Individuals.
  • Maximum of two individuals per nation not represented by a team (no composite teams)
  • Determine Team medals solely through results of Team test (no longer a combination of Team and Individual test scores)
  • Top eight per grade from the Individual test to qualify for the Freestyle test
  • Order of tests: Individual Championship test, Team test, Freestyle
  • Team test to be set to music
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