Individual eventing medals are one of the hot topics for future Games Photo: Kit Houghton
A meeting taking place today in the UK hosted by the Eventing Riders Association (International) will look to find a balance between the role of eventing in the evolving nature of sport as a medium of entertainment and the traditional values of the sport.
In an Open Letter from Bruce Haskell, President of the Eventing Riders Association (International) explains the purpose and timing of the meeting - we look forward to hearing the outcomes
“Almost a year has passed since discussions began again about the future of Eventing at the Olympics.
At the 2015 FEI Sports Forum Kit McConnell from the IOC gave a presentation to all equestrian sports, not just eventing, on the need to consider change. Change to stay relevant, change to grow, change to engage, change for sustainability and change for commercial presence at the future Olympic Games.
The address he gave was not just to question whether Equestrian sports stayed part of the Olympic movement and was not just another perceived scare. This was the IOC asking all sports to consider their future in the Olympic movement.
From that time various proposals for suggested the Olympic Eventing format were put forward from different nations. The majority of the focus seemed to balance on the need for both a team medal and individual medal. With proposals from different groups as to the best Eventing format to create that balance. It was clear from a very early point that a cohesive and widely accepted plan was going to be difficult to achieve.
At the same time the FEI eventing committee held meetings at key events and listened to the concerns and suggestions of the stakeholders that attended.
The fact remained that for Eventing to be a credible Olympic sport, the format must reflect the highest level of our competition therefore the only format to consider was CCI. This left the difficult issue of two medals from one effort. Every athlete in Eventing wants to the chance to be the best even if they are competing in a team. This is only natural and very unique to our sport because we simply cannot repeat the cross country phase on the same horse.
Late in 2015 the news came through that Eventing no longer required “two efforts for two medals”. That information dramatically simplified the process of format and made the traditional CCI possible.
The FEI Eventing committee therefore presented their proposed format to the 2015 FEI General Assembly in November.
The proposed format has some significant changes that intend to meet the IOC suggested criteria for making our sport more easily understood to a wider audience and increasing nation participation. It also makes a clear attempt to retain the “core” of eventing whilst enhancing the separation from team and individual medals.
There are some basic ideas that will work within the proposal that will work however it has left some remaining questions that still divide the eventing community. These issues are:
- 3 in a team with no drop score
- Show jumping running order. Individual first or last.
- Inclusion of composite teams and a moderated scoring system.
Eventing has to be careful at this point and consider the future of what our sport will look like at all levels. The Olympics, as we have seen in past, has a top down effect of the rest of the sport. There is a potential influence that in order to meet IOC criteria of the Olympic Eventing competition being the highest level of our sport, we may have to use this format at all team competitions.
British Eventing held the second of their working groups and produced a paper of suggestions. ERA International was approached by British Eventing, who had produced a paper drawn from the conclusions of their own 2020 working group, to forward their paper to other national federations for consideration. During that process differences of opinion surfaced.
A similar working group was held by the EEF Eventing group and again the outcome of that varied from the FEI proposal and that of British Eventing. It is clear that in some cases what will suit one country will not suit others. Bearing in mind that national Olympic funding comes from the performances of their Olympic Eventing athletes, there is a lot at stake.
ERA International feels very strongly that there is a gap within FEI governance that allows key decisions and rule changes to be made by the National Federations as a whole and not by the Eventing components of those groups.
With that in mind ERA International proposed a meeting whereby as many Eventing specific representatives of National Federations were invited to discuss the key points of the FEI Committee 2020 proposal.
The aim of this meeting is to create an environment where key conclusions can be drawn. Even if the conclusion is that common agreement cannot be found and further work needs to be undertaken then that is a positive outcome. The meeting is seen as a way of supporting the FEI Eventing Committee to be able to produce an Olympic Format that both meets the changing needs of the sport and the need for change from the IOC.
The timing of the meeting is critical. The FEI Eventing Committee meet in early March and the FEI Sports Forum where the Olympic Formats of all equestrian disciplines will be presented is on the 5th of April.
The meeting to be held at Heathrow on Tuesday the 23rd of February 2016 is very significant. It will be the first ever time key personnel representing the Eventing specific views of National Federations will have met. ERA International worked with British Eventing and the EEF to ensure as many countries views will be heard. Attendance at the meeting range from the super powers of modern eventing through to developing Eventing nations so conclusions drawn from the meeting will be representative and difficult to ignore.
For our part the ERA International committee drew the conclusion that based on the diverse differences in opinion of our athletes it would be wrong to offer a single conclusion and feel that we are best served representing the athletes by helping to facilitate the discussions surrounding the key topics by making sure this meeting happened.
Whatever the outcome will be ERA International is aware that change needs to occur. Change will never suit all stakeholders. We must all look to find a balance between the role of Eventing in the evolving nature of sport as medium of entertainment and the traditional values of our unique sport.
The time for change is upon us and this meeting is essential to defining what that change looks like and what Eventing looks like in the future.”
Bruce Haskell
President of the Eventing Riders Association (International)
