As many of us know, the Fei are trying to assure the public that Equestrian is a legit sport and deserves to be in the Olympics. My question is, will it be in the Olympics for another 100 years? Will it make the cut for Tokyo? Just looking for opinions. I really hope it is, as if it wasn’t we would loose almost all public support.
I don’t know about equestrian, there has been talk in the past to get rid of it. I was surprised to see 5 new events that will be featured: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) today agreed to add baseball/softball, karate, skateboard, sports climbing and surfing to the sports programme for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
Is surfing in Tokyo good and how is climbing a sport that can be judged? Seems some of these events have sort of a limited number of countries that would participate, like surfing.
I’d like to see the equestrian events continue but the interest and attendance is always low, I wonder how long they will continue. They have talked before about removing them, so who knows.
I think not. It will be around for the next couple of cycles but in the long term in a world increasingly urban in character it’s going to be eliminated. It’s hugely expensive as equestrian venues take a lot of land and that’s a valuable commodity in most urban areas where the Games are held. In Brazil the equestrian venue has been criticized.
It looks like Tokyo main venue will be at Baji Koen, a facility run by the Japanese Racing Authority. It looks like a lovely place; I believe it also was the equestrian venue for the '64 Games? The eventing is in a different location. From one article I read Baji Koen was not the first choice but was ultimately selected as a cost saving measure.
My conclusion that the equestrian events are in real danger of elimination by the IOC does not make me happy but that’s how I see the drift of the politics of the Olympics.
G.
My personal guess is that either all equestrian will be eliminated, or eventing will go. Eventing takes too much space and the requirements for staff is huge compared to dressage and show jumping. They actually could have dressage and show jumping at the same venue.
I have seen numerous polls/opinions that dressage is the most boring Olympic sport:no: I worry that dressage could be eliminated for lack of attendance and interest.
if the Olympics go back to Europe after Japan, there would be a lot more interest! and bigger crowds… but Rio, Tokyo?? it is working against the equestrian sports!
[QUOTE=FalseImpression;8808512]
if the Olympics go back to Europe after Japan, there would be a lot more interest! and bigger crowds… but Rio, Tokyo?? it is working against the equestrian sports![/QUOTE]
Brazil has a rich equestrian tradition, but it’s more akin to Western than English riding. I’m not sure how the location of the Equestrian facility might have influenced attendance. There was certainly no appreciable coverage on the NBC network during prime time. I don’t know what there might have been on Brazilian TV.
Japan, like China, likely looks askance at equestrian events as a pastime of the rich nobility or oppressive capitalists. The “man on horseback” to them does not necessarily represent an artful melding of man and animal; it likely more means an armored man with a blade cutting his way to power.
It would certainly sadden me to see the equestrian events expelled from the Olympics but the IOC is nothing if not venal and corrupt and toadying.
G.
Brazil had a lot of empty seats for equestrian - so sad - but they had empty seats for a lot of events, including a big women’s beach volleyball match with a Brazilian team playing.
I think show jumping is safe in the Olympics for a while - the number of nations competing, and strongly, from all over the world, has increased. Having teams like Qatar be successful is probably very good for the long term inclusion of our sport. The male-female equality is probably also in its favor, and a show jumping venue is not that difficult to create.
As long as show jumping is there, I suspect dressage will stay, because the additional costs to hold it are small once you have horses there at all.
Eventing is probably on the bubble. It actually is a huge spectator draw for the cross-country, historically, in part because so many tickets are available, but it is an expensive venue to create and the risks of a serious and high profile injury to horse or rider certainly has to be in everyone’s mind. Eventing also has its own frustrations with the IOC.
I would like to see it remain. As for the amount of land it takes, so what? That is a good thing. Why shouldn’t the FEI, and all interested horse people, take a stand against the urbanization and paving over of every single bit of land that isn’t used to grow food?
We have talked here before about wanting to ride on golf courses. OK, so golfers wouldn’t want all those divots or whatever they’re called all over their greens, and rightly so, but look at how spectators walk out onto polo grounds in between chukkers and smooth down the turf. So why can’t there be shared space for both eventing cross country and other open-land sports? It’s already bad enough that cross country isn’t really run across country the way steeplechases were originally (how they got their name). Why let developers develop the world out from under us?
Some people have posted about each continent having one Olympics venue and the Games rotating around those. So why shouldn’t every urban area keep one huge parcel of land for eventing cross country and other open-land sports?
Someone’s got to do it before the planet is paved over and built on. Why shouldn’t it be us, or at lesat start with us?
If “someone” could get human cross-country into the Olympics (it was in the beginning), that is one instance where foot runners and horse riders could share open land. And what about adding mountain bikers?
I don’t understand why a sport has to be in the Olympics, or if it is there that is even has to be the pinnacle of that sport.
Rugby, Baseball and Cricket are big sports worldwide and survive just fine without being in the OG.
The men’s soccer at the OG is restricted to u-23 players, and by and large no one in the world of soccer really cares about it (notwithstanding Brazil’s win yesterday).
Looks like many of the top Golfers in the world weren’t interested in attending.
Cycling, a gold medal pales in comparison to a victory in any of the big three Tours, or even the World Championship.
Equestrian is great when the OG are in a country with a strong horsey tradition, like you had in London. But once it goes elsewhere it’s weird on two levels, the host city is spending a huge amount of money for a venue they will never use again and the locals aren’t interested in, and you are making the riders/horses fly all the way around the world to compete in some place where no one cares about the competitions.
Having the WEG every two years would be better in my opinion.
The horse industry as a whole would not miss being in the Olympics. Not sure it helps our breeders or the US Industry like it once did. The majority of riders in the US ride Western, the QH registry is the largest in the world. Most riders never heard of the FEI or will ever encounter it in their riding careers. We’ll survive fine if they drop it from the Olympics…especially if only distant monarchies and dictatorships are stepping up to host the Games due to high costs for the venues like is going on with the Winter Games.
Its always been a challenge to work with the IOC but since the FIFA debacles, suspicions are growing they operate the same way. Wouldn’t mind severing the ties and concentrating on WEG which is a showcase for horse sports, not an attempt to squeeze them in because they have to.
Noticed those empty seats too…too pricey for locals? Too far to go to see them? Too much else to worry about in their lives? Even more popular sports did not seem to have sold out.
On the plus side for the land considerations for eventing, the mountain bike race is similarly an event that needs a big swath of terrain, and you can see that you could make quite a nice complementary permanent park with all these terrain type events - mountain biking, whitewater canoeing, eventing. You could put cross-country running back in nestled among them, too.
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On the plus side for the land considerations for eventing, the mountain bike race is similarly an event that needs a big swath of terrain, and you can see that you could make quite a nice complementary permanent park with all these terrain type events - mountain biking, whitewater canoeing, eventing. You could put cross-country running back in nestled among them, too.[/QUOTE]
Having watched some of the Rio mountain biking today, I was going to post the same general idea!
I think the Olympics will continue to be the pinnacle of the sport and feel it won’t be removed in the next few games. Although, with Dressage continually being seen as cruel, elitest, “not a real sport” and just “horse dancing” by the general public, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was removed. Eventing would be removed because of the cost and finding a venue with enough land is prohibitive. I could see show jumping remaining as it draws the biggest crowd. I don’t know how much sway the FEI has over the IOC’s decision regarding keeping or removing equestrian sports. I know there was some talk years ago about potentially removing dressage, which may have been prompted by the FEI? I can’t remember.
I’m still of the opinion a permanent summer venue should be constructed in Greece. Make it first class and available for use in off years. That would end the “circus” that accompanies the “bids” to host the games and probably a lot of the corruption at the IOC. Write a good set of doping rules and then let the Greek Parliament turn them into law. Get caught and the penalty is more than just losing a medal. I’m sure others can come up with other reasons this is a good idea.
Perhaps not suitable for the winter games but it could work for the summer games.
G.
If Dressage is “horse dancing,” what the heck are Table Tennis and Beach Volleyball but silliness and skimpy bikinis? Perhaps we should elevate video games or fashion posing to Olympic status as well?
Personally, I’m SICK of the cries of “elitism,” with re. equestrian sports and most everything else. Where is it written that the ENTIRE WORLD must bottom out at the lowest common denominator, geared to ignorant rabble? What about showcasing the most beautiful and noble things humanity can produce? If there are still enough countries with the money, interest and will to field equestrian teams, let them stay as long as the venues can afford to produce the courses.
My one proviso is that Eventing should return to its roots and eliminate trappy, dangerous, optical-illusion and distraction obstacles on XC and ask questions biologically answerable by the horse and which are not stunt-jumping requiring a kamikaze rider.
Congratuations to our USET!
[QUOTE=poltroon;8808808]
On the plus side for the land considerations for eventing, the mountain bike race is similarly an event that needs a big swath of terrain, and you can see that you could make quite a nice complementary permanent park with all these terrain type events - mountain biking, whitewater canoeing, eventing. You could put cross-country running back in nestled among them, too.[/QUOTE]
Didn’t they do that in Atlanta?
I would LOVE to see vaulting becoming olympic one day. It’s not quite there yet, but the interest seems to be increasing. The World Championships in France (coincidentally also this weekend) had five teams from North- and South America competing.
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I would LOVE to see vaulting becoming olympic one day. It’s not quite there yet, but the interest seems to be increasing. The World Championships in France (coincidentally also this weekend) had five teams from North- and South America competing.[/QUOTE]
Vaulting was part of the Antwerp Games in 1920.
G.
