Olympic assessments Japan, Australia and New
Zealand
Hoketsu wins first Olympic assessment
By Claartje van Andel dressagedirect
Today January 31 in
Cannes, France, the first of three assessments has taken place
to compete for the right to send a dressage team to the
Beijing Olympic Games.
Today the best three Japanese
riders Hoketsu, Yago and Kitay together scored a total of
194,792%. This will be the score to beat for the Australian
riders and the New Zealand squad in the coming two
assessments, as there is an Olympic team place for only two of
the three teams from the Asian Australian region.
Five Europe-based competitors competed today at the
wonderful private venue of mr Sylvain Massa in Mandelieu Cedex
near Cannes. Five FEI judges were judging, Minako Furuoka from
Japan, FEI chair Mariette Withages from Belgium, Dr Dieter
Schüle from Germany, mrs Mary Seefried from Australia and mrs
Jan Bird from New Zeeland. The Australian-based combinations
will be judged by the same Ground Jury at the Sydney
International Equestrian Centre on coming Monday 4 February
2008. The score of Australian Tomkinson will be considered
with the scores of the Austrealian competing in Sydney. The
Ground Jury will then complete the assessments in New Zealand
and the two Beijing-bound nations will be announced shortly
afterwards by the FEI.
Chairman Dieter Schüle commented on the first assessment:
“I noticed all riders really did a good job. The winner
Hiroshi Hoketsu had good impulsion and his extensions went
very well just like the passage.”
Mary Seefried added: “You
could notice how much pressure it was for the riders to get
their scores now, they were nervous. However, the experience
of the winning horse was payed of. The venue is absolutely
beautiful an the arena was fantastic.”
Director dressage of
the FEI Eva Salomon likes to emphasize that this European show
in Cannes was an exception in terms of the 64% rule that is
needed for any competitor for their Olympic qualification.
“Next week in Australia and New Zeeland the scores will count
as Olympic qualification-scores, while not many international
shows are held in that region. But in Europe a lot of official
CDI’s, CDIO’s and CDI-W have been chosen as qualifiers.
Sydney Assessment
The Australian Team for next Monday is Brett Parbery and
Victory Salute, owned by Carolyn Lieutenant, Heath Ryan and
Greenoaks Dundee, owned by Clyde Wunderwald, Rozzie Ryan and
Donna Carrera, owned by Susie Duddy and Maree Tomkinson and
Lanzaro, owned by Maree Tomkinson.
The reserves for the
team are Hayley Beresford and Relampago Do Retiro, Nadia
Coghlan and Northern Campion and Heath Ryan partnered to his
second horse Regardez Moi.
High Performance Manager Mr
Mace said it was important to note that selection now for the
regional assessment team does not have any bearing on who will
ultimately represent Australia at the Olympics.
Chosen
team member Heath Ryan is relieved about the situation and
says: “After the uncertainties that Equine Influenza brought
to our industry, it is a great relief to see the path to Hong
Kong falling into place.” In earlier planning selection for
Beijing would be decided at designated selection events in
Germany in May and June this year.
(Find more on the
situation in Australia at www.efanational.com/)
Heath Ryan and Regardez Moi are placed as
reserves to compete in the Olympic assessment in Sydney Picture Franz Venhaus©
RECENT OLYMPIC NEWS (UPDATED/REVISED)
Catherine Haddad: give the Americans the best
chance for fitness
American Catherine Haddad, last week competing in
Amsterdam and living in Germany wrote in the magazine ‘The
Chronicle of the Horse’ her view on the OG in Hong Kong and
the selection procedure of the American. She feels the
European based Americans have not the same chance to be
selected, and that the selection procedure is not in favour of
the fitness of the horses. David Stickland, based near Geneva,
agrees with her. Read Haddad’s vision and the reaction
of David Stickland below.
Haddad feels Hong Kong to be a unique location for the
Games and no more trying as a travel destination for most of
the world’s dressage competitors than Los Angeles, Seoul or
Sydney. Haddad: “Getting to the Games has always been an
integral part of the Olympic challenge for athletes. A bit of
a sinophile myself, I spent six weeks in China and Hong Kong
in 1986. I had an epiphany about my life with horses
while riding a jumper in Inner Mongolia during that trip, and
was therefore delighted when Beijing won the bid for the 2008
Games. I would be proud to have a chance at representing my
nation in Hong Kong. It would feel like a destiny gone full
circle. So my problem is not with Hong Kong. My problem
is with the US Selection Procedures for dressage.”
Worries Selection Procedure
The US
Selection Trials will be held the last two weekends in June in
San Juan Capistrano, CA. Haddad: “The plan after selecting the
team is to fly to Europe in the first week of July, quarantine
at Aachen, then fly by the end of July to Hong Kong,
quarantine 10 days before the Olympics, win a medal, and then
fly home by the end of August. I think we are shooting
ourselves in the foot here. Technically, our team should be
chosen and already training in Europe by the beginning of June
at the latest. We might then have a chance to reach top
fitness and hone our skills before making the journey to Hong
Kong seven or eight weeks later.”
Haddad has based her
opinion on several talks with specialists like her vet and her
own experiences after her trip last year to the WC Final in
Las Vegas. Haddad: “It took Maximus 14 weeks to return to full
power after our trip to Las Vegas. So I asked my vet if it is
possible to do the following in the 12 weeks between June 1
and August 30: Fly from Europe to California.
Recover. Train. Compete in back-to-back shows at
the Selection Trials. Fly to Europe. Recover.
Train and quarantine at Aachen. Fly to Hong Kong.
Recover. Train and quarantine at Hong Kong.
Compete in the Olympics. Fly back to Europe. Recover? My
vet laughed and said that he would not do that to the family
dog, let alone an equine athlete…”
American Heather Blitz is based in
Denmark. She feels the OG in Hong Kong will be too early for
her. She sets her goals on selecting for World Cup Finals and
the OG in London 2012 Picture Claartje van Andel dressagedirect
David Stickland agrees with Haddad. “The travel schedule
currently envisaged essentially excludes our three European
based contenders for a place on the team. Even if they make
the travel and get selected, the chances are that they will
not be on form for Hong Kong. We surely need to pick
objectively the 3+1 competitors who have the best chances of
bringing off the team medal, without any bias from somewhat
old results. It is what the couples can do this August that
counts! It is a wonderful thing that the four riders with byes
[i.c. the medal winners of the OG in Athens and the WEG in
Aachen Robert Dover with Kennedy, Debbie McDonald with
Brentina, Steffen Peters with Floriano, and Guenter Seidel
with Aragon] have bought honour to themselves and to the USA
with their previous team performances, and if they are judged
by the selectors to be the ones to go forward then that would
also be excellent. But our team needs to be the best team we
can send now! Do we send sprinters based on their performances
of almost two years ago, or do we require them to compete with
the best we have today and make our selection based on their
current performance?”
Brentina, here at the vet check at the WEG
in Aachen, is one of the horses with a bye for the
selection trial Picture Claartje van Andel dressagedirect
Fitness required
Catherine Haddad feels
also the American based Americans have some fitness to lose
with the procedure.
Catherine Haddad: “No matter where the
horses are based, any horse that competes from 19-29 June in
California will have difficulty attaining top fitness for the
Olympics in Hong Kong in August. Travel interrupts fitness
training. Fitness is required to withstand stress, jet lag and
harsh temperatures. A box is a box! Jet lag studies have shown
that when animals (rats) are flown repeatedly to the west,
their life spans increase. When flown repeatedly to the east,
their life spans decrease. When flown repeatedly in opposing
directions, they die young. That worries me. I did not get
into this sport to break my horses. No accolade is worth
that.”
Catherine Haddad suggests some solutions as well.
Haddad: “The Selection Trials could be moved to Gladstone.
This seems logical. And they could be pushed forward by a
month or more. This seems necessary.”
Secondly bye options
could be written into the procedures for contenders in
Europe.
Haddad: “Why are we adding the stress of flying to
the States to qualify when the trip to Hong Kong itself will
require colossal efforts from our horses? Why not fly the
Selectors to Europe to watch one or two designated
competitions for those combinations already based
there?”
This option is not new, as this procedure also has
been chosen by Australia, New Zeeland and Japan, who will have
circulating the same group of five judges from South-France
for European-based riders this week to Sydney and to New
Zealand.
Most Olympic horses will have their
quarantine in Aachen Picture Aachen©
The third option according to Haddad is to hold the Trials
in California at an earlier date, stay there to train and
eventually fly the westerly route to Hong Kong.
Catherine
Haddad: “All riders who compete at this level put their
horses’ welfare at the forefront of their concerns. Now
it is time for our Federation to step up to the plate and do
the same. Let’s develop a plan that will field the best,
strongest, fittest dressage team we can produce for the Hong
Kong Olympics in August. Let’s give all our contenders the
chance to do this without jeopardizing the health and
happiness of their horses. C’mon. We are
Americans. We are the most innovative people on this
earth. Let’s find a way!”
Again David Stickland
agrees. “Having the US team already qualified after Aachen is
a wonderful position to be in”, Stickland states. “If we go
with the best team possible, a Nations medal in Dressage is
within reach although by no means trivial. To beat the Germans
and Dutch is almost impossible, and there are 3-4 nations in
close contention for the Bronze. Three American riders of the
top six in the current ranking are getting their qualifying
points in the considerably more competitive European
environment. Selectors have to find a way to allow our three
European based competitors to compete on a level playing field
in the selection process AND, as importantly, find a way to
bring the selection process forward for all candidates so that
whoever is selected stands a chance of being on top form in
Hong Kong.”
Read more from Catharine Haddad at the Chronicle of the
Horse here and of Catherine Haddad and the
reaction of David Stickland and a lot more reactions at the
website dressagedaily here.
Read more about the general Olympic
criteria at the new FEI website here.
Catharine Haddad on Maximus: be fair to
the horses and adjust the criteria for the Americans in
selecting them for Hong Kong Picture library Claartje van
Andel dressagedirect
Hong Kong first stop on Chinese soil for Beijing
2008 Olympic Torch Relay
The spirit of the Olympic Games will radiate in Hong Kong
when the Olympic flame arrives in the territory on April 30
and the Olympic Torch Relay is held on May 2.
The secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Tsang Tak-sing, said the
event would be a glorious chapter in Hong Kong sports history
in which Hong Kong people would take pride.
As the Beijing
Olympic Games is the first-ever Olympic Games to be held on
Chinese soil, it’s the nation’s dream for a century, and Hong
Kong people deeply share the pride. It was Hong Kong's honour
to have the opportunity to co-host the Olympic equestrian
events. Hong Kong is the first stop on Chinese soil after the
Olympic flame is carried through 19 cities in the five
continents. All this marked the event a once-in-a-life-time
opportunity for Hong Kong. He hopes that Hong Kong people all
share the joy of the Games in witnessing this historical
moment.
The Olympic Torch Relay is one of the most
important events of the Olympic Games.
It symbolises the
passing of the Olympic spirit from generation to generation.
The Olympic Torch Relay in Hong Kong will take place on
May 2, lasting for eight hours with its launching ceremony and
starting point at the Piazza of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre
in Tsim Sha Tsui and the finishing point at the Golden
Bauhinia Square in Wan Chai, followed by a closing
celebration. The Olympic flame will be carried by 120
torchbearers through Kowloon, the New Territories and Hong
Kong Island to spread the Olympic spirit by running or on
various modes of transportation including cars, dragon boat
and vessel.
After the torch relay in Hong Kong, the Olympic
flame will be transported to Macau and other major cities on
the Mainland before arriving at Beijing on August 8 for the
opening ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
A
webpage with comprehensive information on the torch relay in
Hong Kong, ranging from the history of the Olympic Torch Relay
to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch Relay, is launched.
Please get updates about the torch relay in Hong Kong and
colourful photos, maps and hyperlinks at www.lcsd.gov.hk/TorchRelay/.
