Equestrian at the 2008 Summer Olympics

Equestrian competitions at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics will be held from August 9 to August 20 at the Hong Kong Sports Institute and Beas River. It is the second time the equestrian events will be hosted in another member of the IOC. Unlike 1956, however, the equestrian events are part of the main games, and are held within the same period.

Events

6 sets of medals will be awarded in the following events:

• Individual Dressage
• Team Dressage
• Individual Jumping
• Team Jumping
• Individual Eventing
• Team Eventing

Competition Schedule

All times are Hong Kong Time (UTC+8).

Venue

The equestrian competitions are to be held apart from the main games in Hong Kong, which is a separate member to the IOC. This is because the territory has fewer problems with equine disease than cities in mainland China, due to the huge racing industry in the territory and strict quarantine measures. Additionally, there are already some stabling sites for horses within Hong Kong, hence less construction is needed to facilitate the equestrian sports.

There will be 2 main equestrian venues: Hong Kong Sports Institute (adjacent to Sha Tin Racecourse) and the Beas River Country Club. The Sports Institute will hold the main competition arena, which includes 80 x 100 meter stadium will all-weather footing and seating for 18,000. The Beas River Country Club will be the site of the cross-country phase of eventing, which will be held on the golf course.

Dealing with the weather

Hong Kong is known to have hot, humid, and sometimes dangerous weather in August, so much so that racing is cancelled during the summer months. This includes a mean air temperature of 28.4 °C (83.1 °F) with 82% humidity, making it even more inclement than Athens (mean temperature of 27.6°C (81.6 °F), humidity 48%) and Atlanta (26 °C (78 °F), 75% humidity).

Some competitors made it clear that they believed that it would be unfair to work their horses in such weather. Swiss dressage rider Sylvia Ikle was one such rider, and the Swiss unfortunately decided not to send a team because they would have had little chance of medaling without her.

To combat the heat, the horses will be transported from the airport in Hong Kong to the stabling facilities in air-conditioned vans. The stables are all air-conditioned as well, at a temperature of 20 °C (68 °F). For the first time in history, there will also be an indoor arena for training that will also be air-conditioned. Misting fans will be placed under tents at both venues to cool off horses that have worked outside. There will also be vast quantities of ice water available. There is also a veterinary clinic on site, which can test the horses' urine several times to ensure they are all properly hydrated.

The cross-country course was also designed with a shorter, alternate route to be used if the heat and humidity warrant it. The show jumping will be held under lights at night to avoid the heat

Should a typhoon arise, the competition will be canceled for that day. However, there have been additional days built into the schedule to ensure flexibility. The footing is made of high tensile fibers and quartz sand, which has a great ability to absorb water, so that any rain should have minimal effect on the footing used for dressage and show jumping competitions.

Lastly, many riders plan to alter their training schedule when they arrive, choosing to ride several times a day for a shorter period of time.

Courses

The show jumping courses (both Grand Prix and the eventing stadium phase) are to be designed by Leopoldo Palacios of Venezuela and Steve Stephens of the USA. Michael Etherington-Smith of Great Britain will design the cross-country course.

Participation

More than 200 horses from 41 nations will be competing.

Dressage: 13 teams of 3 riders each, and 10 individuals. Eventing: 5 riders per team, with only 3 scores counting.

References

• Beijing 2008
• Beijing 2008 Equestrian
• Federation Equestre Internationale
• FEI Official Competition Timetable

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.