EQUESTRIAN SPORT GALLOPS INTO THE RIO LIMELIGHT

Equestrian sport arrives in Rio with its head held high, the bit between its teeth and on the crest of a wave of expansion across the globe.

The Rio 2016 sport entries are all in, and a total of 200 athlete and horse combinations from 43 countries will chase their dreams of glory in three separate disciplines, soaring over massive obstacles in Jumping displaying athleticism and grace in Dressage, and powering around a cross-country track in Eventing. What sets them apart from the rest is that they will do it in partnership with another living being - the horse.

The #TwoHearts campaign in the lead-up to Rio 2016 has helped explain this extraordinary coming together of human and animal as a single athletic unit. This is a sport with a rapidly growing fan-base, and some of the most captivating stories in town!

The skill and excitement of nurturing the natural instincts and courage of this noble creature and competing in harmony with it continues to hold huge appeal. The number of people engaging in equestrianism around the globe continues to grow dramatically.

“Since 2007 there has been an 83 percent increase in the number of international competitions, and young people are being drawn into equestrian sport in greater numbers than ever before” says Sabrina Ibáñez, Secretary General of the international governing body, the FEI. “Our sport really appeals to the youth culture. The Brazilian Dressage team is a good example, with all four members below the age of 25, and one of them holding the distinction of being the youngest equestrian athlete at these Games.”

At the age of just 18, Giovana Prada Pass will be competing against 62-year-old Julie Brougham from New Zealand, highlighting another of the exceptional qualities of equestrian sport in which athletes of all ages – and both genders – compete together on a level playing field.

Experience counts for a lot at Olympic level, and New Zealand’s Sir Mark Todd (60) is the man with the most as he heads into his eighth edition of the Games. His two individual gold medals don’t go even part of the way towards telling the amazing story of this legend who was crowned the “Greatest rider of the 20th century” by the FEI, having competed in both Jumping and Eventing at the Olympic Games in Seoul (KOR) in 1988 and Barcelona (ESP) in 1992, before deciding to call it a day after taking individual bronze at the Sydney 2000 Games. Retirement didn’t suit him however, and only someone of his calibre could succeed in setting himself a new target of returning to the sport just a few months before the qualification deadline for the Beijing Games in 2008. The rest is history.

Another comeback king is Australian eventer Shane Rose (43) whose 20-year Olympic journey includes team silver in Beijing along with a whole lot of heartache. The true grit of this rider who has battled cancer, experienced more disappointments and broken more bones than it seems possible, is just one of the things that has earned his place in his country’s squad.

And the selection of William Fox-Pitt for the British Eventing team is another incredible tale. Many others might have decided to hang up their boots after a major head injury like the one Fox-Pitt suffered last year, but the former world number one and double Olympic silver medallist has made a remarkable recovery and will be chasing down that elusive gold at his fifth Games in just a few weeks’ time.

Family connections abound, with husbands and wives, life-partners and cousins listed amongst the 75 Jumping, 65 Eventing and 60 Dressage horse and rider combinations Brothers Michael (56) and John Whitaker (60), who between them have competed at nine Olympic Games, are in the British Jumping squad, while at the other end of both the age and experience spectrum, that young Brazilian Dressage team includes brother and sister Luiza (24) and Pedro (22) Tavares Almeida, with Pedro’s twin Manuel (22) as the team reserve.

“We have a really wide age-range in our fan-base due to the nature of our sport and we expect a huge following during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games!” says Sabrina Ibáñez.

Notes to Editors:

Equestrian sport has been part of the Olympic Games since 1912.

Team and individual medals are awarded in three disciplines - Dressage, Eventing and Jumping.

Team USA holds the record for the greatest level of participation, with 236 horse and rider combinations competing throughout the history of the Games.

Team Germany has won the most medals, collecting a total of 75 to date.

The equestrian events of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games will be staged in the Deodoro Olympic Park alongside basketball, BMX, canoe slalom, fencing, hockey, modern pentathlon, mountain biking, rugby sevens and shooting.

The Deodoro Olympic Park is the second largest Olympic cluster of the Rio 2016 Games venues.

Jumping: 27 countries, 15 teams, 75 horse/rider combinations

Eventing: 24 countries, 13 teams, 65 horse/rider combinations

Dressage: 25 countries, 11 teams, 60 horse/rider combinations

The Rio 2016 sport entries (FEI Definite Entries) also include 34 reserve horses and 33 reserve riders. The Jumping rider Ferenc Szentirmai (UKR) is a competing athlete and also has a reserve horse.

The countries represented are:

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Chinese Taipei, Colombia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Palestine, Poland, Peru, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Republic of South Africa, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay, USA, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.

About Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) www.fei.org

The FEI is the world governing body for horse sport recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and was founded in 1921. Equestrian sport has been part of the Olympic movement since the 1912 Games in Stockholm.

The FEI is the sole controlling authority for all international events in the Olympic sports of Jumping, Dressage and Eventing, as well as Driving, Endurance, Vaulting and Reining.

The FEI became one of the first international sports governing bodies to govern and regulate global para sport alongside its seven able-bodied disciplines when Para-Equestrian Dressage joined its ranks in 2006. The FEI now governs all international competitions for Para-Equestrian Dressage and Para-Driving.

by Louise Parkes