Have you been watching the Olympics? I’ve been spending
hours glued to the TV because…equestrian events! Thank you NBC Sports! So far
they’ve had the sense to air good portions of the three equestrian events that
take place at the Games: eventing, dressage and show jumping. If you’ve never
watched equestrian events, here’s a quick primer for what you can see, and a
few fun facts:
Currently, equestrian events are the only ones where men and
women compete against each other as equals.
The three equestrian sports at the 2012 Olympics are
dressage, “Grand Prix” or show jumping, and eventing (also known as three-day
eventing). Each sport has a separate
team of riders and horses.
In dressage,
horses perform a series of movements known as a “test.” The first two rounds,
the movements are in compulsory order. The third round is “freestyle” and set
to music. Dressage has been called “horse ballet.” In show jumping, horse and rider must complete a course of
approximately 15 fences within a set amount of time. Penalties are assessed if
poles are knocked down, a horse refuses a jump, or if the horse and rider do
not complete the course within the time allowed. Eventing takes place over several days and includes three
components—a dressage test, a cross country course, and a round of show
jumping. (The dressage and jumping aspects are completed in the same manner as
the regular dressage and show jumping, but at a less demanding level.) Eventing
is the triathlon of horse competitions, and tests the horse’s fitness and the
rider’s all-round skill.
In each of these sports, team and individual medals will be
given out. Two hundred athletes will compete for the six gold, six silver and
six bronze medals at the 2012 Olympics.
Riders must be a minimum age of 18 to compete in eventing or
show jumping, and 16 to compete in dressage. The oldest member of the U.S.
Olympic team is Karen O’Connor, a 54-year-old eventer competing in her fifth Olympics.
The youngest is 18-year-old Reed Kessler, part of the show jumping team. And
the oldest athlete at the entire 2012 Games competes in dressage: Japanese
rider Hiroshi Hoketsu, age 71.
Equestrian events began in 682 B.C. when a four-horse
chariot race took place at Greece ’s
25th Olympiad.
Until 1952, only male cavalry officers were allowed to
compete in equestrian events.
Lisa Hartel, of Denmark, won a silver medal in dressage at
the 1952 Games, despite being paralyzed from the waist down by polio and having
to be lifted on and off her horse.
Also in 1952, Foxhunter, the horse that carried Colonel
Harry Llewellyn to Great Britain’s only gold medal of the Games (in team show
jumping), received a congratulatory telegram from Winston Churchill.
The horses that compete in the Olympics have their own
passports. The passports don’t have pictures, but line drawings indicating the
horse's identifying features. They also contain a list of the horse’s
vaccinations.
Check online or with your local TV stations if you’re
interested in taking a peek at the world of equestrian sports (or click here for the best schedule I've found). Eventing
finished earlier this week, dressage is taking place now and show jumping
starts Saturday. Here’s a quick YouTube video from the eventing competition to
whet your interest:
What’s your favorite Olympic sport?
