US Eventing
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The USA has participated in eventing at the highest levels - Olympic Games, World Championships and the Pan Am Games - for over 100 years, winning many medals over the years, including Team Gold on home soil at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles
US Eventing can also claim the first female eventing Olympian in Lana DuPont Wright, who became the first woman to compete in an Olympic Games, winning team silver at the Tokyo Olympic Games 1964
In 1998, the US won team bronze at the World Equestrian Games in Pratoni, Italy and in 2022 they returned to the Eventing World Championships in Pratoni to go one better. In 2022, the team of Will Coleman riding Off The Record (7th), Tamie Smith riding Mai Baum (9th), Lauren Nicholson riding Vermiculus (19th) and Boyd Martin riding Tsetserleg (20th) took team silver
The USA now hosts two FEI CCI5* competitions each year, at the long-standing Kentucky Three Day Event and the more recent addition to the calendar in the Maryland 5* at Fair Hill.
In 2023 Tamie Smith became the first American rider since Phillip Dutton in 2008 to win the CCI5* on home soil in Kentucky and first American female to win since Kim Severson in 2005
Competitions are run across the country at all levels for USEA members (12,500) with more than 250 events hosting over 42,000 entries per year.
Eventing in China, Asia and Rest of World
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Equestrian sport, and particularly eventing due to its need for space for the cross country and expertise in not one but three disciplines, was long seen as the domain of European countries. But eventing is increasingly drawing attention in other parts of the globe, including China and Asia
Eventing in China
Chinese interest in equestrian sport was fuelled by the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, when their first eventing competitor, the 18-year-old UK-based Alex Hua Tian, took part as an individual. He went on to finish eighth individually at Rio 2016 then at Tokyo 2020, China fielded its first team with Yongfeng Bao riding Flandia 2 and Huadong Sun riding Lady Chin Van Ter Moerven Z joining Alex as team members as team members and Ruiji Liang riding Agora De Bordenave as Reserve.
China did not field a team at Paris 2024 but Alex once again competed as an individual, finishing 23rd on board Jillsonne Van Bareelhof.
"Most families in China are not horsey but there is an increasing desire to introduce their children to horse activities such as equestrianism. It has so much to give to society and to the local community" explains Alex
Alex founded the Horsemanship Movement in 2017 with his friend Philip Wong, to help introduce communities throughout China to the core values of equestrianism through a one-off program for children from all backgrounds. The program won the FEI Solidarity Award in 2018 and there are now more than 2,000 equestrian clubs across the nation.
Eventing in Thailand and Japan
At Tokyo 2020, six countries were represented in equestrian sport for the first time - Estonia, Israel, Latvia and Luxembourg, as well as Singapore and Sri Lanka from Asia. Athletes from the Caribbean, Middle East, Latin America and Africa lined up alongside those from traditional countries such as Germany, France and the USA.
Thailand had qualified a full eventing team for the first time at Tokyo 2020 thanks to qualification performance by Korntawat Samran, Arinadtha Chavatanont and Weerapat Pitakanonda
Thailand had also won Team and Individual Eventing gold at the inaugural FEI Asian Championships 2019 that they hosted in Pattaya, where the Championships will return in 2025.
The Japanese eventing team had hoped to medal on home soil at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, but it took three more years before that longstanding dream came true.
The four Japanese riders, Yoshiaki Oiwa, Kazuma Tomoto, Ryuzo Kitajima and Toshiyuki Tanaka, who competed together at Tokyo 2020, finally stood on the Olympic podium at Paris 2024 in the team bronze medal winning position, Japan’s first Olympic equestrian medal in 92 years.
Eventing at the Asian Games
Equestrian sports have been included as part of the Asian Games since 1982 and the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou in China hosted competitors in the three disciplines of dressage, show jumping and eventing.
Originally scheduled to take place in September 2022, the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic but the equestrian events at the Tonglu Equestrian Centre finally got underway in late September/early October 2023.
More than 230 athletes and horses from 23 countries competed in three equestrian disciplines, with China winning both Individual gold (Alex Hua Tian) and team gold in the eventing.
