Proposed changes to Olympic events.

[Equibrit]

http://inside.fei.org/news/fei-general-assembly-votes-favour-olympic-and-paralympic-rule-changes

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

[B]Dressage[/B]

• 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 6 heats, plus the next 6 with the best overall results)
• 8 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

[B]Eventing[/B]

• 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[SUP]st[/SUP] Dressage; 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] Cross Country; 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] Jumping Team; 4[SUP]th[/SUP] Jumping Individual)
• Olympic Eventing 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

[B]Para-Equestrian Dressage[/B]

• 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 8 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

[RPM]

Works for me.

[SnicklefritzG]

What is the reasoning behind these changes?

[StormyDay]

Yes, what is the propose? I think it was so more smaller countries could have teams but why would these rules help with that?

[HJalter123]

[QUOTE=StormyDay;8948326]
Yes, what is the propose? I think it was so more smaller countries could have teams but why would these rules help with that?[/QUOTE]

Countries that have smaller teams might also be the same countries that aren’t nearly at the level as the others.

I’m ok with this rule IF AND ONLY IF it would allow teams like Canada to have been able to participate in the most recent Olympic dressage events. Many of their riders had very respectable scores at the PanAm but it was either Canada or the USA who would be able to go. There were other teams at the Olympics who were far less qualified to compete in terms of scores, yet they got to go because of the qualification process before the Olympics.

I’m beginning to feel like the Olympics have outlived their usefulness for many sports. It certainly seems to have done this for some things like Eventing, where you can’t run it at the top of the sport due to the number of countries that simply can’t field a 4* team. So why would it ever be anything less than the top countries winning anyway when you put 4* riders against 3* who can’t qualify or don’t have horses for the 4* level?

It is already hard enough to beat Michael Jung. Who at the 3* level would be able to do that?

[Halt_Near_X]

Some of it looks like cost cutting (no drop score = fewer horses per team = some reduction in expense).

Some of it looks like it is more about trying to engage non-equestrian viewers and increase the stakes a bit (no drop score = fewer riders for them to watch go + a bad ride will have more impact on team score = higher drama/tension, more chance to see upset victories etc.).

The heat system in Dressage seems all about normalizing Dressage with other individual sports (e.g. swimming). And, again, opens up the opportunity for a potentially weaker rider to go further if they are in a weak heat to begin with.

Call my cynical, but I don’t think these changes are about the sport so much as catering to the Olympic committee (We’re too expensive? Oh, we’ll cut some costs. We don’t get enough viewers? Oh, we’ll restructure our competition to be more appealing.).

[SnicklefritzG]

I think Olympics are often set up to do what is going to be convenient for TV broadcasts. Look at women’s beach volleyball. Now they are competing in bikinis.

I don’t think it was always that way. I would have to believe some of the changes were done to get people to watch sports where the people are scantily clad. Kind of like as close as one could get to having Victoria’s Secret models helping to promote viewing and ratings.

I don’t want drama at the Olympics! I want to watch the best of the best!

[Larksmom]

I think the eventing rules spell disaster. Having no drop score, and a penalty for not finishing, how much pressure will there be to finish on a not quite ready horse? Think of the pressure, and how much drama at this years spectacle and how much worse it will be with only three. I don’t even like the fact that the fourth person doesn’t medal.
The sport is safer than it used to be, but the proposed tinkering isn’t in the best interest of the horses.

[Equibrit]

22 Nov 2016
The FEI General Assembly has today voted overwhelmingly in favour of the proposed format changes for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo 2020, which will now go to the IOC Executive Board for final approval in 2017.
Under the new proposals, 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 and will be a key element in ensuring horse welfare.
A total of 11 of National Federations, out of 107 represented, voted against the proposal – Albania, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Latvia, Luxembourg, Monaco, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Romania and Switzerland.
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.”

[poltroon]

[QUOTE=StormyDay;8948326]
Yes, what is the propose? I think it was so more smaller countries could have teams but why would these rules help with that?[/QUOTE]

They help because the (somewhat artificial) limit on the number of participants requires a qualification process based on ranking. So for example, Ireland did not get to send a show jumping team because they did not finish in the top 5 at WEG and they were edged out by Spain at the European championships. Because qualification (after the first n slots are given at WEG) is by region, slots were given to Argentina, Ukraine, Qatar, and Japan even though those teams were probably not as strong as the Irish team. (Ireland was 7th at WEG)

In our Pan American Games region, that’s usually the qualification of last resort for team USA. If we need it, it tends to shut out Canada and other countries in the Americas. If Canada and USA both qualify via WEG, then the field is open. That is kind of weird and has to be very hard on their national federations in terms of fielding a consistent team.

Note that WEG 2014 managed to find the time to run 31 show jumping teams.

Rio had 15 teams of 4 riders, so 60 team horses, plus 15 individual riders. If you run 3 horses per team, your 60 can be expanded to 20 countries for the team competition. That’s their math and their argument.

[FalseImpression]

the athletes are not happy… Consulted but ignored by the Federation…
http://www.icontact-archive.com/NMT5UPDz4w196tKqrrGoEB8e8KZNurAT?w=3