1000% accurate, there was so much tension and excitement! And in May or June, I randomly ran into Tamie at a tack shop in Aiken and congratulated her and told her I was holding my breath til they were clear and her response was an emphatic “ME TOO!!!” 
10 Likes
This is terrible news. On one hand, I would say kick the IOC to the curb, but on the other hand, if we don’t get to go to the Olympics, I doubt we would get ANY funding from the US government. Eventing would drop further than it is already. I do agree though, that arena eventing is sadly, probably in our future.
I think her strongest point is the lack of inspection post-XC. It could lead to some questionable judgement on course if you know a medal is on the line and have no motivation to save some horse for tomorrow. And I don’t even mean that in a nefarious way; I think it’s human nature to have some extra desire to win for your country at a high stakes event like the Olympics.
15 Likes
One way you could eliminate part of the problem is get rid of the team concept. That way it would be just one competition. Most individual sports in the olympics don’t have a team medal (e.g. track, swimming, boxing, etc.) Eventing is an individual sport not a team sport anyway. If someone wants to see what “team” won, just total the scores after the fact.
5 Likes
Track and swimming have relays, which are teams. International eventing is very team-based—I’m not sure eliminating the team element is a step in the right direction. It’s like doing something huge to fix a stupid thing, instead of just undoing the stupid thing.
6 Likes
It is one event out of many track and field events. But eventing is not sending one whole team out at the same time. They’re not passing a baton. Their is no team medal for the nation with the most points, etc. Eventing is an individual sport that they layer on a team concept just for national bragging rights at the olympic games and the world championships. If eventing was a team sport why are there no teams (and no BS please about support personal) at the 5*'s?
The bottom line is that prostituting the sport to the IOC/FEI is continuing to kill the sport.
3 Likes
Why not do individual and team medals, based on the existing results? The person who has the fewest penalties wins the gold. The national team whose competitors have the fewest penalties, tallied up in total, win the gold.
3 Likes
Olympic rules do not allow athletes to win more than one medal for the same performance. So there has to be some additional test/action to distinguish between the team and individual performance.
They could theoretically do two dressage tests instead of two SJ rounds to distinguish between the team and individual medals but I’m pretty sure no one in eventing would support that.
1 Like
It’s why gymnastics in the olympics goes on forever. Team comp, individual apparatus, all around comp. It really is a stupid rule. The IOC keeps saying they want to cut costs down but then they have rules like that.
11 Likes
I didn’t know that @ghst13! That does make sense! The gymnastics I don’t mind as much, because the routines are relatively short, but I agree it’s a silly rule. At minimum, they should allow this to be decided on a sport-by-sport basis, since obviously the welfare of the horse in equestrian events is an additional factor other sports in the games don’t need to take into consideration. (Pentathlon I’ll bracket for another thread.)
I’m in the camp that eventing at the Olympics could be viable if it was maybe like that Wellington Showcase awhile back–which if memory serves correctly, had the phases in the regular order, a jog, and a contained cross-country course. But it’s just not going to be a 5* level test like the big events in Europe.
2 Likes
True. It is certainly different as a team sport from some other examples. But I disagree with this:
Team eventing involves all kinds of interesting layers of strategy that I really enjoy. And while I continue to have concerns about three-to-a-team from a welfare perspective (which are nothing in comparison to the welfare concerns I have about putting the cross-country phase last), it really does emphasize the importance of cross-country in the sport.
The best cross country combinations in the world usually have clear jumping xc rates over their last 10 performances around 90%. You would say that was a fabulous performer at 4 and 5* level. But if you multiply an expected clear rate of 90% out for a team of three riders (and only the best nations would even be able to field that), you end up with an expected team clear jumping xc rate of 73%, which is less than 3 team clears in 4 attempts.
If you take a team of three that each have a 70% clear rate (still pretty respectable at top level), the expected team clear jumping rate falls to just 34%. It makes cross country hugely influential at the Olympics, which is as it should be, and introduces a significant amount of team strategy in terms of both selection to the team and running orders on the day that would not normally be present at a 5*.
I enjoy it - it’s something a little bit different, and helps keep the emphasis on the most important elements of the sport even though the Olympics themselves are no longer a true 5 star.
Well said. Putting cross-country last is definitely a stupid thing.
3 Likes
If that is the case, and if the team concept is so important, why not make it so that if you compete on the team you’re ineligible to receive an individual medal? I know that would not go over well LOL.
OR. Wow, and here’s an absolutely wild concept, so just hear me out. What if…what if we just kept SJ last, where it belongs. 
10 Likes
They (IOC) did that at one Olympics. It did not go over well.
It seems like what would make more sense is to keep the format as is, but distinguish the individual placings by bringing back the top X placed riders for a “jump off” after the final SJ round. Absolutely not ideal to add another ask of the horse, but at least it would be a shortened course (although guessing IOC may not like having the individual and team medal rounds on the same day for ticket sales purposes).
3 Likes
That is basically what they have been doing for the last several Olympics, except it isn’t just the “top X”, but there is also a limit on how many from each country (I think it is 2) get into the “individual jump off”.
1 Like
Ahh okay - so much for having an original thought 
2 Likes
IMO because most are brain washed by this new eventing trend that horses are machines and disposable. The amount of horses some riders go through, and the horses just seem to disappear often is super odd to me. But those are the ones who will aim for this type of “sport”.
2 Likes
None of this will get any better until we (and UL riders) start voting with our feet and dollars.
I’ve never gone to or watched a live stream of arena eventing because it’s stupid. That’s not the point of cross country. Boyd et al should just stop attending (I’m guessing he’s ok with it because he keeps competing, but it’d be nice if he didn’t).
I went to Rio and am going to Paris but I will not attend eventing in LA if they do this.
I also don’t show USEF because I don’t agree with a ton of stuff they do, and I encourage others to do the same. Everyone keeps complaining and not doing anything. If we don’t support the organizations we don’t agree with, they’ll change.
3 Likes
So, just to be clear on this point: you’ve been ready to go Modified at a recognized and you decided not to wholly because of your principle here?
2 Likes
No, I show the jumpers. I drive 4 hours to show at a schooling show rather than 45 minutes to show at a rated show. And the one time I evented, I didn’t join USEF to do so.
