London traffic light
Russian equestrian sport earned a "troika" or orange light at the Olympic traffic light "Championship.com" with a stretch. Organizational criteria saved from an unsatisfactory assessment: management of the federation and relations with the press. As for the sports component, everything is deplorable here: we do not expect medals at the Olympics, because at other international competitions we did not receive them, there are very few chances for the appearance of young and promising riders and horses, and the federation's budget is extremely small. The situation urgently needs to be changed radically, otherwise the existence of the Olympic equestrian sport in Russia will soon be simply forgotten.

Compound
Six sets of awards will be played in London. Two each in show jumping, eventing and dressage, respectively, in the individual and team standings. Equestrian sport is a unique sport that provides for joint competitions of both men and women. However, at the same time Russian team composed exclusively of representatives of the stronger sex. and will compete for medals in triathlon, and in show jumping. In other types of competitions, the Russians failed to break into the Olympics.

Beijing
At the 2008 Beijing Games Russian athletes represented the country for the first time in all three individual disciplines, besides, there were two more people than in London. But at the same time, none of the five will go to London this summer. In China, Alexandra Korelova's sixth place in dressage was a success, which is the highest achievement of our equestrian sport in the history Olympic competitions. The performance of the rest of the riders, unfortunately, can hardly be called as successful. It is also interesting that over the past three Olympics, our athletes have performed better and better, but it seems that this pleasant pattern will be interrupted in London.

Chances
The chances of our guys to take a medal in any kind of competition are close to zero. Equestrian sport is not a sport where an athlete at the end of the list of participants can unexpectedly shoot, according to international ratings. And, looking at them, we, frankly, have nothing to rejoice at. occupies the 57th position in the world ranking of show jumping, - 51st and - 61st respectively among triathletes. The lack of decent results at the world championships further reinforces the belief that it is impossible to win a medal. Some of the most important competitions, such as the World Equestrian Games - 2010, our athletes do not go at all due to lack of finances and acceptable results. Where can we talk about the medals of the Olympics.

Favorites
Traditionally, the highest results at the Olympics are shown by European athletes, as well as representatives North America. Highly strong team, generously flavored with Olympic champions, as usual, is presented by Germany (Ingrid Klimke, Peter Thomsen, Christian Alman). The Netherlands has a strong squad (Edward Gal, Anki van Grunsven, Tim Lips). Representatives of the USA (Phillip Dutton, Busy Madden) and Canada (Jessica Phoenix, Jill Henselwood) will also fight for the first places. It is likely that riders from Sweden and Great Britain, who received the maximum representation at the London Olympics, will also qualify for medals.

Calendar
Equestrian competitions will begin on July 28, take a day off on August 1 and end only on August 9. The scene will be the meadow in front of Queens House - the residence of Queen Anne of Denmark. The representatives of triathlon will be the first to feel the atmosphere of the English royal court, where the winners will be known already on July 31, first in team competitions, and after about four hours - in individual ones. On August 2, contenders for dressage medals will enter the fight, in which the final competitions will be held on August 7 and 9. Finally, on August 4, show jumping representatives will enter the impromptu hippodrome for the first time, they will recognize the owners of gold awards on August 6 and 8.

Finals schedule

July 31
13:30. Triathlon. Team competition final.
17:30. Triathlon. Final of individual competitions.

8 August
15:00. Jumping. Round A of the individual competition final.
17:55. Jumping. Round B of the individual competition final.

Forecast
Unfortunately, in equestrian sport, medals are out of reach for Russians. And if now nothing is urgently changed in the approach to this sport, then for a long time the prize-winning places of the Olympics will appear to our riders only in dreams. Another thing is the Germans, British and Americans, who are likely to earn gold medals and fight for leadership in the equestrian standings.

While the British equestrian team won one bronze and two gold medals in Olympic Games, the sport suffered a crushing defeat in the press. Sports editors were unable to find photos of the British team members and instead published photos of the Dutch team. According to Giles Coren, it looked like "Olympic hacks". Sports experts consider dressage more of a circus performance than separate view sports, and portray it as an occupation for a tiny group of wealthy minorities. And yet, every year there are a huge number of competitions throughout Britain, and about 2.4 million people regularly ride horses. Where did such unpopularity and delusions come from?

Many people think that you have to be a millionaire to take part in equestrian competitions - because of the high cost of horses. Quite right best horses cost fabulous money. What critics often forget, however, is that riders rarely own the horses they ride—just as jockeys rarely own racehorses. Unfortunately, top riders such as Carl Hester and Dutchman Edward Gal lost their horses, which were sold out from under them.

In order to be successful in any sport, daily full-time training is essential, which means that athletes must have independent sources of income or sponsorship support. However, Charlotte Dujardin started her career as a groom - the lowest paid job imaginable. In fact, there is a paid career path in equestrian sports that many other sports, which are considered more accessible, do not seem to me.

Following the belief that you have to be rich to be an equestrian, comes the idea that you don't need any talent, that a horse will do everything for you, and thus that riders don't need sports training. This is complete nonsense. Watch the horse and rider from a distance and they seem to barely move. Then look at close-ups of the same performance, that oddly slow trot that was originally seen in military parades. During the performance, the rider and the horse make a huge amount of movement, and in order for the rider to create the illusion of stillness, he needs to move in sync with the horse. The differences between the movements relate mainly to the position of the hips, legs and the tension of the main muscles. Even considering my very mediocre level in equestrian sports, I am a happy owner of beautifully contoured abdominal muscles and the cardiovascular system of a man 15 years younger than me.

Dressage was originally a means of training horses for cavalry. This sport is not for the weak and timid. If you don't have talent, money can't bring you success. Sports horses weigh several hundred kilograms and have a mind of their own. Therefore, all the force that a horse needs to gallop can be used to throw the rider to the ground. What critics forget is that equestrian sport is actually one of the most all-encompassing sports. Men and women, young and old compete with each other on an equal footing. The lack of attention from the press upsets me. I'm afraid that portraying the sport as elitist will really make it so, and that the less affluent will not want to play it. As long as critics nitpick and sneer at a closed circle, that circle will never expand.

So, if any of you have watched equestrian competitions and want to get involved, I suggest you call your local riding school or the British Riding Society and find out what you need to do. In any case, you will get the opportunity to get acquainted with a wonderful animal, which, as the poet said, carried our story on its back.

InoSMI materials contain estimates exclusively foreign media and do not reflect the position of the editors of InoSMI.

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06/18/2013 13:57 Equestrian sport at the Olympic Games. Photo: marconews.com

Equestrian competitions first appeared at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris and since then have been included in the program of every subsequent Games, except for the 1904 Games in St. Louis and 1908 in London. Initially, competitions were held in show jumping and soon canceled long and high jumps. At the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, triathlon and dressage were introduced. In 2012 show jumping, dressage and eventing celebrated their 100th anniversary in the Olympic Movement.

1900, 2nd Olympic Games, Paris (France)

Grand Prix, long and high jump, hunting and training competition were in the program of the 1900 Olympics. The tournament was officially registered only in the 70s of the last century, which is why the beginning of the birth of the Olympic equestrian movement is considered to be 1912.

1912, 5th Olympic Games, Stockholm (Sweden)

Show jumping, dressage and eventing made their debut in Stockholm and to this day they remain in Olympic program. It took two years to build an equestrian center for the Games in the Swedish city, which was also the main base for the 1956 Olympic Equestrian Games and the 1990 World Equestrian Games.

1920, 7th Olympic Games, Antwerp (Belgium)

First World War had just ended (in 1918) and there were serious doubts that the 1920 Olympics would take place. Only on December 3, 1919, the International Olympic Committee accepted the Olympic application of the Belgian Antwerp. So short time representatives of some countries, in particular the United States, who simply did not have time to reach Europe by the scheduled date, were not allowed to come to the main start of the four-year period. The well-prepared Swedish team collected half of the 15 awards that year, thus confirming their superiority in sports.

Vaulting was included in the program of the Games for the first and only time.

1924, 8th Olympic Games, Paris (France)

The dressage arena, 60 x 20 meters, was located in the center of the huge Stade de Colombes, more than 60 meters from the spectator stands. Five judges, with their assistants, sat together at a long table on the short side of the arena.

The winner in the individual show jumping competition was an officer of the Swiss militia, Lieutenant Alphonse Gemuseus on an eight-year-old mare of the Irish breed Lucete, bought in 1922 for 48 British pounds, as unfit for military service.

And the length of the triathlon cross-country route was 36 kilometers.

1928, 9th Olympic Games, Amsterdam (Holland)

By 1928, the IOC had clarified the definition of the term "amateur". In relation to equestrian sports, every active professional officer or any equestrian who engages exclusively in sports and is recognized by the government body of his country as a gentleman was considered an amateur.

1932, 10th Olympic Games, Los Angeles (USA)

Since the 32 Olympics were held at the height of the Great Depression in relatively remote Los Angeles, only half of the athletes from six countries participated in equestrian competitions compared to 1928. The Japanese team arrived by ship from Yokohama directly to the port of Los Angeles. France and Sweden chartered the ship to New York and then traveled all over the States by train. The Mexicans went the same way. The Dutch, who sailed through the Panama Canal directly to Los Angeles, recalled that the US equestrian team arrived by ship in Amsterdam in 1928 with horses in good shape, having rented a treadmill used during the filming of the film Ben Hur . The Dutch designed their own trestle wheel and trained their horses on it throughout the long voyage.

The first well-known Olympic-level show jumper, John A. Barry (who competed for the United States in the 1920 and 1924 Games), compiled a route that was much more difficult than in 1928 and consisted of 18 obstacles, which required 20 jumps to overcome. The distance of the route was 1060 meters. None of the teams was able to finish the competition, respectively, team medals were not played.

For the first time, piaffe and passage were included in the dressage program.

In triathlon, only two teams - the USA and the Netherlands - were able to finish. The team "bronze" remained unplayed.

1936, 11th Olympic Games, Berlin (Germany)

The 11th Olympiad was held in Berlin in 1936, three years after the National Socialist regime came to power in Germany. We remember Adolf Hitler's unsuccessful attempts to use sports as evidence for his theory of the superiority of the Aryan race. The equestrian competitions held in the last 5 days of the 16-day program played an important role in these monumental and politically charged Olympic Games.

1952, 15th Olympic Games, Helsinki (Finland)

The 1952 Olympics were marked by a number of fundamental changes in equestrian sport. Most notable was the movement from military to civilians. Women were allowed to participate in dressage; only men competed in show jumping and triathlon.

The most famous participant of those Games was the Dane Liz Hartel. In 1944, at the age of 23, she was stricken with polio, both of her legs below the knee were completely paralyzed. Despite being helped to get on and off the horse, Liz won the silver medal. The moment when gold medal winner Henry St. Cyr helped her to the podium during the awards ceremony is considered one of the most touching in the history of the Olympic movement.

1956, 16th Olympic Games, Melbourne (Australia) / Stockholm (Sweden)

When the IOC chose Melbourne, Australia to host the 16th Olympiad, it did not take into account the 6-month quarantine required for horses before arriving in Australia. In 1953, a meeting of the federal authorities was held in Canberra, at which it was recommended that no changes be made to existing quarantine requirements. The IOC decided to move the equestrian competition to another location and in 1954 chose Stockholm, Sweden.

Although the show jumping route was difficult, for the first time many participants recognized it as modern. The first round didn't have a single clean run. Hans Gunter Winkler (Germany) on the magnificent mare Halle made one fall. The horse started jumping too early on the penultimate obstacle and Winkler was thrown up, managing to stay in the saddle, he nevertheless pulled a muscle badly. He knew that if he withdrew from the last round, the team would be disqualified. With dizziness and pain, he decided to go git. Halla passed the route unerringly. They took the "gold" in the individual and team competition. Subsequently, Winkler became the owner of five more Olympic awards highest dignity. He is the only seven-time show jumping Olympic champion and the only rider to have won medals at six different Olympics.

1960, 17th Olympic Games, Rome (Italy)

In 1960, the Australians created a real sensation in triathlon. This four, made up of Larry Morgan, Neil Lewis, Brian Crago and Bill Roycroft, dominated the cross country like never before. At the end of the day, Morgan had a significant advantage over Crago and Lewis. Roycroft was not very far from them, however, after falling on cemented sewer pipes, he ended up in the hospital with a concussion and a broken collarbone. After potential silver medal winner Krago with horse Sabre was withdrawn from the second veterinary show, Australia's team medal hopes seemed to be dashed. However, 45-year-old Bill Roycroft was released from the hospital and completed the show jumping route without errors, bringing the Australian team an Olympic gold medal.

1964, 18th Olympic Games, Tokyo (Japan)

The 64th Olympics was the first in Asia. It was only the second Games - after Los Angeles in 1932 - when most horses had to travel around the world. Many horses arrived by plane. The horses of the USSR national team went on ships and got into the typhoon Wilda. For the first time, a former Olympic obstacle course champion defended his title. 44-year-old Pierre d "Oriolla (France) on a 9-year-old Lutter repeated his achievement in 1952. Another achievement was the first participation of a woman - Lana Dupont (USA) - in triathlon competitions.

1968, 19th Olympic Games, Mexico City (Mexico)

The choice of Mexico City as the host of the 1968 Games was, in a way, a challenge, since the city is located at an altitude of 2300 meters above sea level, which means a 30% decrease in the oxygen content in the air. Horses were recommended an adaptation period of three to four weeks. The first arrivals - in mid-September were horses from the USSR, Argentina and Ireland. The horses of the national teams of France and Germany were brought last, 20 days before the start of the competition. Of particular interest was the participation in dressage and triathlon of riders from the GDR. In 1960 and 1964 they participated in the united Germany, and in that year they were allowed to fly under their own flag.

For the first time, time at equestrian competitions was recorded not only manually, but also with the help of electronic devices.

1972, 20th Olympic Games, Munich (Germany)

In 1972, everyone was expecting a magnificent Olympic Games, and at first everything went exactly like this: smoothly and without problems. But on September 5, 1972, the world was shaken up after eight Palestinian terrorists representing the Black September paramilitary group broke into the Olympic village, killed two members of the Israeli team and took nine hostages. In the ensuing battle, all nine Israeli hostages, five terrorists and one policeman were killed. The Olympics have been suspended for 34 hours. Against the wishes of the terrorists, the IOC called for the competition to continue, and IOC President Avery Brundage proclaimed famous phrase"The games must go on!"

It is clear that all other details of the Games in Munich have almost lost their meaning. Naturally, this also affected equestrian sports. After the first day of dressage, September 5, the second half of the participants continued their performance on the 7th, and the competition ended on the 9th.

Lieselotte Linsenhoff on Piaff became 13th Olympic champion in dressage - the third in Germany (after Langen in 1928 and Pollai in 1936) who could achieve this, but the first female champion.

1976, 21st Olympic Games, Montreal (Canada)

It's all about triathlon genes... Mother Rita and daughter Silva de Luna both represented the Guatemala team. Father Bill, 61, and son Wayne Roycroft were on the Games bronze medalist team Australia.

For the first time in Olympic history equestrian sport, there was a disqualification for an anti-doping rule violation: San Carlos, riding Irish triathlete Ronald McMahon, was expelled after a doping test showed the presence of a prohibited substance. And although sports officials were informed about the treatment of an injury received during transportation, the existing rules did not contain exceptions. An automatic disqualification followed, but no other penalty was applied to the athlete.

Barbara Kemp became the first female cross-country event planner at the Olympic Games.

1980, 22nd Olympic Games, Moscow (USSR)

The Moscow Olympics has become one of the smallest in terms of representation in the history of Olympic equestrian sports, largely due to the fact that the United States and allies have declared a boycott of the Games. Of the high-ranking athletes, only the reigning European champion, Austrian Elisabeth Theurer, and the Italian triathlon team arrived in Moscow. Elisabeth's decision to take part in the Moscow Olympics caused serious controversy in her country, which was the result of the resignation of the president of the Austrian National Equestrian Federation.

1984, 23rd Olympic Games, Los Angeles (USA)

The 23rd Games were the first since 1896 to be financed not by the state, but by sponsors, which became the model for all subsequent Olympics, especially when the organizers realized that they could make money at the Games (OI-84 revenue was 223 million dollars) . It was the first Olympic Games where equestrian competitions were organized on an already existing equestrian infrastructure with professional management. In response to the US boycott of the 1980 Olympics, the Soviet side boycotted the Los Angeles Games.

Team USA dominated show jumping, winning individual and team gold. Eventing legend Mark Todd of New Zealand has won his first Olympic medal.

1988, 24th Olympic Games, Seoul (Korea)

The Seoul Games featured some exceptional performances. In dressage, for the first time, all three medals went to women. Rainer Klimke took his last Olympic honor as West Germany won the Olympic team title. With 6 gold and 2 bronze medals, Klimke is the most titled rider in Olympic history. For only the second time in the 76-year history of Olympic triathlon, a reigning champion defended his title, it was Mark Todd with a 16-year-old horse named Charisma.

1992, 25th Olympic Games, Barcelona (Spain)

In dressage, the fight for a personal gold medal unfolded between Gigolo, on which Isabelle Werth performed, and 15-year-old Rembrandt, who defended his title along with Nicole Uphoff. The duel was won by Rembrandt and Uphoff, thus receiving the second Olympic "gold" in the individual competition. After two successive victories by Henry St. Cyr (Sweden) on two different horses in 1952 and 1956, the German pair achieved the same success. In show jumping, after seeing the eye-catching and richly decorated obstacles at the previous Games in Seoul, the Spaniards decided to create something new, completely different: as a result, two architects designed 25 obstacles using minimalism in color and form in order to objectively show the complexity of this discipline. However, this approach has not found many supporters.

1996, 26th Olympic Games, Atlanta (USA)

During the Atlanta Games, the format of the dressage and eventing competitions changed significantly. After the decision of the IOC not to give two sets of awards in the same form International Federation equestrian sports decided to divide the eventing competition into two events: team and individual. In all three disciplines, an improved qualification system was introduced and - for the first time - quotas were established.

The heat and humidity expected in Atlanta during the Games have necessitated scientific research and taking action to protect the health of horses. According to the results of the research, it was announced that the horses needed to go through a three-week acclimatization: 7 days to recover from transportation, 14 days to acclimatize to new conditions. The main measure was the widespread installation of fans.

Linda Allen was appointed Show Jumping Course Designer and was the first woman to receive this honor.

In 1996 Paralympic dressage was included in the program of the Paralympic Games for the first time.

2000, 27th Olympic Games, Sydney (Australia)

Forty-four years after Melbourne in 1956, when the importation of horses into Australia was banned, the Australian quarantine authorities were much more hospitable. Although the conditions were very strict: a two-week quarantine in Europe, and after arriving in Sydney, it was required to spend the same amount of time in quarantine on the spot.

Of the 15 medalist horses, 12 were Thoroughbreds, while the other three also had 7/8 Thoroughbred blood.

The 2000 Olympics was the last for two legendary dressage horses: Gigolo (Isabelle Werth, Germany) and Bonfire (Anki van Grunsven, Holland), the second of which won the highest award.

Team Australia won the third consecutive Olympic title in triathlon.

2004, 28th Olympic Games, Athens (Greece)

In 2004, the Games returned to Greece, home of the Olympics.

Equestrian competitions have been marred by several doping scandals. A doping test of Waterford Cristal, driven by Olympic champion Cyan O'Connor, tested positive for a banned substance normally prescribed to humans but not permitted to horses. After lengthy litigation, O'Connor was disqualified from the competition and subjected to additional sanctions. gold medal received by Rodrigo Pessoa (Brazil). Doping tests of three more horses gave a positive result. As a result, the jumping team Germany was deprived of the Olympic "gold", which passed to the US team only in February of the following year.

At these Games, a new format was introduced for show jumping competitions in eventing, which implied the passage of two rounds - one for the team classification, the second for the individual classification. In addition, phases A and C and the steeplechase were canceled in the cross-country.

2008 29th Olympic Games Beijing (China) / Hong Kong

For the second time in Olympic history, equestrian events were held separately from other sports. Due to the fact that in China there are no disease-free zones (quarantine zones) recognized by the World Organization for Animal Welfare, equestrian competitions were held in Hong Kong, located 200 km from the capital of China. In order to protect the health of horses in conditions of high humidity and extreme heat, the International Equestrian Federation conducted a comprehensive study of the problem with the involvement of leading experts. The competition schedule was prepared in such a way as to avoid the tournament in extreme weather conditions, and the horses themselves were placed in specially ventilated stables.

Six horses, five of which were show jumpers, failed drug tests. As a result, Norway lost its first Olympic show jumping medal - bronze - which, after more than two years of litigation, went to the Swiss team. Won the same team competition US obstacle course team.

In dressage, Anka van Grunsven on the Salinero won her seventh and eighth Olympic medals - team silver and individual gold.

2012, 30th Olympic Games London (UK)

The equestrian competitions at the 2012 Summer Olympics were held from July 28 to August 9. 6 sets of awards were drawn. Traditionally, equestrians have revealed champions in individual and team triathlon, individual and team show jumping, and individual and team dressage. In all events, women could participate equally with men.

AT individual dressage a woman won gold at the 7th Olympics in a row, last time the man became the Olympic champion in this discipline in 1984 in Los Angeles, when the famous German Rainer Klimke succeeded.

Anki van Grunsven of the Netherlands won bronze in the team dressage and brought her Olympic honors to 9, a feat that no other equestrian in Olympic history has ever achieved.

Representatives Saudi Arabia, winning bronze in the team show jumping, won their second ever equestrian award and third in all sports at the Olympics.