The IOC nixed it. 
https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/galway-downs-will-not-host-la28-equestrian-events/
Where on earth are they going to host the equestrian, then? Isnāt it a wee bit late to start building a new XC course from scratch?
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The IOC in all its wisdom apparently has a better idea. Who knows what that is.
I hope this isnāt a precursor to dropping Equestrian completely.
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Burn the IOC and FEI to the ground.
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Puzzling. https://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/eventing-confirmed-la28-olympics-sport-programme-889027
The LA28 Chairman is married to a hunter rider and has a showjumping daughter so he must be way more familiar with the specs for an equestrian venue than the average bear.
This was their position in 2024: When the LA28 committee first proposed Galway Downs as the Olympic equestrian venue in June 2024 as part of a proposal to change several venues from the cityās original 2017 bid to meet new sustainability requirements set by the IOC, it called Galway Downs ā[t]he only existing venue that can accommodate the requirements of Equestrian, while also reducing the cost and complexity of delivery.ā
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Weird.
Totally weird.
Where are they going to select?
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Itās no big thing to find a place for dressage and show jumping. But I thought they started planning for the Olympic XC courses years in advance of the event. Especially since they need to run test rides over it, etc. Itās awfully close to go time to have no plan.
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Any chance they could hold eventing on the East coast? Iām thinking of Fair Hill since the infrastructure was recently put in place for the Maryland 5*. Or does the venue have to be in/near LA?
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I donāt know the rules, but that seems extremely unlikely.
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They held surfing in Tahiti during Paris, so if thereās no suitable way to hold it in the host city (or general area, i suppose) they seem to have precedence to spread out.
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With the winter games in Italy they are talking about holding bobsled/luge at Lake Placid if the Italians are not ready.
I suspect that what the IOC wants to do is further reduce eventing down closer to the express eventing like they do at Bruceās Field in Aiken. Sooner of later the event competitors need to say enough is enough and just walk away from the IOC and FEI. Those two organizations just keep marching along slowly killing eventing.
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That is absolutely my bet.
Dressage-news just posted an articleā¦a āsourceā told them Santa Anita Park
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And if one looks at the layout of Santa Anita, the only place where XC could be is the golf course which is maybe 3/4 of a mile from the barns, across parking lots, 2 city streets, and the Arcadia city building.
Yes, if they made XC a showcase type it could be done in the track footprint.
There was clearly a bribe paid. That is the only plausible explanation for the choice of such a horrendous decision for all equestrian disciplines.
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That is certainly true as the infield of santa anita has a lot of buildings and paved areas. You couldnāt run XC there if you wanted to RAyers is right. The IOC keeps saying they want to reduce costs. If they donāt run at Galway and stay in LA then it will some version of a combined test/arena eventing. You would hope someone influential in the eventing world would stand up to stop this but I havenāt seen that person around.
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To play devilās advocate, it is super hard to justify the cost of the infrastructure/land necessary to keep a proper cross-country in the Olympics in these challenging times. Beach volleyball can be done with a truckload of sand and a net. Donāt get me wrong, I was sad when the roads and tracks went away. But I have long thought it would suit eventing better to have the World Championships as the pinnacle.
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