Equestrian Sport Joins One-Year Countdown To Rio 2016 celebrations #1yeartogo #Rio2016

Today marks the one-year countdown to the Opening Ceremony of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, where equestrian sport will celebrate 104 years in the Olympic movement at the first Games to be held in South America.

The world’s best horses and riders will compete for medals in the Olympic disciplines of Eventing, Dressage and Jumping over 12 days of intense competition at the Olympic Equestrian Centre at Deodoro.

The Rio 2016 Olympic equestrian action gets underway the day after the Opening Ceremony on 5 August. As always, Eventing opens the Olympic equestrian sport, and it is Eventing that features in the Aquece Rio (“Warm Up Rio”) test event, which starts tomorrow.
While this week’s test event is limited to Brazilian horses, a total of 200 equestrian athletes will join 10,300 athletes from 206 National Olympic Committees at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, which run from 5-21 August with 19 days of world-class sport.

“The world’s biggest sporting event is now just a year away,” FEI Director, Eventing & Olympic, Catrin Norinder said. “Our venue at Deodoro is absolutely stunning and we’re all set for this week’s test event, now that we’ve marked the one-year countdown to the Games. We’re all really looking forward to seeing equestrian sport, one of the only Olympic sports in which men and women compete against each other and which involves two athletes, the horse and the rider, at Rio 2016. The road to Rio is now a major focus in our sport, with qualifying events ongoing around the world.”

Rio 2015 Olympic Games

Rio-bound

Ten nations have so far qualified Jumping teams for Rio, with six nations through for Dressage. The next major opportunity for European nations to qualify for the Jumping and Dressage at Rio 2016 will be the FEI European Championships at Aachen (GER), which starts in just six days (11 August).

Eight nations have already booked their team Eventing slots for Rio, and all eyes are next on the Longines FEI European Eventing Championships at Blair Castle on 10-13 September. This event, which takes place in the grounds of Scotland’s most-visited castle, forms part of UK Sport’s £40 million National Lottery funded events programme, which is helping to build a strong legacy from the London 2012 Olympic Games and the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

The Rio 2016 Olympic equestrian action gets underway on 6 August 2016. As always, Eventing will open the Olympic equestrian sports, and the Cross Country phase will be a huge attraction in the Deodoro Olympic Park venue with a course featuring stunning water jumps. (Gustavo Nascimento)

#1yeartogo #Rio2016

“Rio de Janeiro will be the focus of the sporting world’s attention next year, when it becomes the first South American city to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games,” FEI President Ingmar De Vos said.

“Staged in one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world, the Games are going to be really spectacular. Rio will be making full use of its world-famous landmarks, just as London did, and equestrian sport will be rubbing shoulders with other exciting sports at Deodoro, including basketball, fencing, hockey, mountain biking, BMX, canoe slalom and rugby sevens.

“We are experiencing massive growth in equestrian sport around the world, and Rio will be our perfect platform, putting equestrian in the limelight at the greatest sporting event on the planet.”

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FEI Nations Cup™ Eventing 2015: The Season Springs Into Action

Spring is in the air for the international Eventing community with the eagerly awaited launch this weekend of the FEI Nations Cup™ Eventing 2015 season at the popular French venue of Fontainebleau.

This series, first piloted in 2012, was designed to aid national coaches in preparing their championship squads by providing them with the opportunity to give team experience to a wider selection of riders. Last year, the concept was enthusiastically embraced by 15 nations.

The 2015 season comprises eight FEI Nations Cup™ Eventing competitions across eight countries: France, Ireland, Great Britain, Poland, Germany, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands. They are all run at CIC3* level, apart from the last event of the series in Boekelo (NED), which is a CCI3*. Under the rules for 2015, there has to be a minimum of three teams starting the Dressage phase.

Germany, the reigning Olympic, World and European team Eventing champions, have topped the leaderboard of this series twice in three years, and last season enjoyed an extraordinary winning run across five events: Strzegom (POL), Aachen (GER), Malmö (SWE), Montelibretti (ITA) and Waregem (BEL).

Great Britain, the champions in 2013 and a close second last year, and France, third three years consecutively, have both been equally committed, and the French will be very hard to beat on home ground this weekend where the twisting tracks of the forest at Fontainebleau always prove a technical challenge.

The New Zealanders were so strong last year that they finished fourth on the leaderboard on the strength of only three appearances, two of which were winning ones, and Ireland, the Netherlands and Italy featured strongly as well.

“We are very encouraged by the way riders and team managers have entered into the spirit of the FEI Nations Cup Eventing,” said Catrin Norinder, FEI Director, Eventing & Olympic.

Olympic, World and European champion Michael Jung riding La Biosthetique Sam for Team Germany, winners of the FEI Nations Cup™ Eventing 2012 and 2014. The combination is pictured here at Strzegom (POL) in 2014. (Leszek Wójcik/FEI)

“The series has provided a chance for up-and-coming riders to attract the attention of their team selectors and for some of them it has clearly provided valuable experience before tackling their first championships.

“Every year, the final event of the series has become more and more exciting and there have been some hotly contested competitions on the way. We fully expect 2015 will be an equally competitive series.”

Four nations line up for the opener at Fontainebleau this weekend: France, Australia, with a trio including Chris Burton on his Adelaide CCI4* winner TS Jamaimo, Great Britain, whose squad includes Francis Whittington on the 2014 Blenheim CCI3* winner Easy Target, and the Netherlands, fielding some of the riders from their triumphant bronze medal effort at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2014.

Follow the action on http://www.crazyhorseride.com

FEI Nations Cup™ Eventing 2015 calendar

1 Fontainebleau (FRA) 19-22 March
2 Ballindenisk (IRL) 23-26 April
3 Houghton Hall (GBR) 28-31 May
4 Strzegom (POL) 25-28 June
5 Aachen (GER) 11-14 August
7 Montelibretti (ITA) 17-20 September
8 Waregem (BEL) 24-27 September
9 Boekelo (NED) 8-11 October

In Memoriam: Richard Meade (GBR), 1938-2015

Richard Meade (GBR) OBE, triple Olympic gold Eventing champion, former member of the FEI Bureau, FEI Eventing Committee and Chairman of Group II (Northern Europe), has passed away after a battle with cancer. He was 76 years old.

He became the first British athlete to win individual Eventing gold at the Munich 1972 Olympic Games, after making his Olympic début in Tokyo eight years earlier.

In Munich, he also helped Great Britain to secure their second consecutive Olympic team gold medal following the Mexico 1968 Olympic Games where, in a tropical downpour in the Jumping phase, he clinched the team title and secured fourth individually with a clear round on Cornishman V, a horse he had never sat on before.

In total he competed in four Olympic Games, as well as the substitute event at Fontainebleau (FRA) in 1980 during the partial boycott of the Moscow Games, and also carried the British flag at the closing ceremony of the Munich Olympics.

He went on to claim team silver at the FEI World Eventing Championships in 1974, and by 1981 had scored team gold three times for Great Britain at the European Championships (1967, 1971, 1981). In 1982, he won his final team Eventing gold at the World Championships in Luhmühlen (GER). As an individual, he also won at Badminton in 1970 and 1982, and the Burghley Horse Trials in 1964.

His dedication to equestrian sport was life-long, and after retiring as an athlete he served as President of the British Equestrian Federation, chairman of the Federation’s British Horse Foundation and on the British Horse Society’s Council.

Richard Meade (GBR), triple Olympic gold Eventing champion, former member of the FEI Bureau, FEI Eventing Committee and Chairman of Group II (Northern Europe), is pictured here after winning the Badminton Horse Trials in 1982 with his horse Speculator III. He will be remembered for his life-long dedication to equestrianism. (Bob Thomas/Getty Images)

He was also focused on developing Eventing globally. As well as being a former member of the FEI Bureau and FEI Eventing Committee, and Chairman of Group II (Northern Europe), he was an FEI coach and judge and worked closely with the FEI and the Olympic Solidarity programme to develop Eventing at grass roots level.

“Richard Meade was a brilliant, courageous horseman with a strong sense of team responsibility, who became a household name in Great Britain,” said Hugh Thomas, Chairman of the Board of British Eventing and Director of the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials.

“He was known for his reliability as a member of the British team at the height of its success, and as a rider who had the ability to get on any horse and immediately form a successful partnership with it. Most recently, he gained great pleasure from seeing his son, Harry, compete for the senior British team. Richard will be very sorely missed by many people around the world.”

“Richard Meade was the horseman of his day, putting Eventing on the map and the spotlight on the glamour and excitement of horse sport,” said Catrin Norinder, FEI Director, Eventing & Olympic. “He inspired sports fans and athletes around the world at the Mexico and Munich Olympic Games, World and European Championships, and back on home soil at Badminton and Burghley, which continue to showcase international Eventing at its best.

“After competing, he continued to dedicate his life to equestrian sport and the equestrian community in many valuable roles, including giving his services as a volunteer at the London 2012 Olympic Games. We are all truly grateful for his loyalty and commitment, and immensely proud of his Olympic Eventing legacy.”

The FEI expresses its sincere condolences to Richard Meade’s wife Angela and their three children – Team GBR member Harry, James and Lucy – his many friends, the British Equestrian Federation and the global Eventing community.