WITH three Irish equestrian teams qualified for next summer’s Tokyo Olympic Games, it is a good time to take a closer look at the new format for the Games, what effect it will have on the individual and team competitions, and what outcome we can expect.

Show jumping qualification is most recent in our minds so we will begin by delving into the changes coming to that discipline in Tokyo.

It will have been some 16 years since Ireland fielded a team at an Olympics and, although there are questions around who will be at the helm as chef d’equipe (Rodrigo Pessoa’s contract expires at the end of 2019), Ireland will want to mark their return to the team competition with a medal.

Undoubtedly, one of the most confusing rule change is the issue of no longer having a drop score with teams of three riders only. How are the FEI, who were in charge of implementing the new rules on request from the International Olympic Council (IOC), going to ensure that enough teams complete the competition to make it credible?

Ironically, the changes were supposed to bring more clarity for outsiders when implemented, but instead, the confusion surrounding the best way to legislate for no longer having a drop score seems to have mithered everyone inside the sport.

Why were changes needed?

Let’s back track slightly and question why changes were made to the format of the equestrian disciplines. The OCI insisted that in order to keep equestrian disciplines in the Olympic Games, the FEI must “change or be changed”.

The changes were made in order to include more flags and make the sport easier to understand, hence dropping the drop score, but in doing so, the FEI had the difficulty of ensuring that the sport continued to be fair and horse friendly.

Drop score conundrum

The test event for young riders at Hagan in the summer was the first time in any competition that the new show jumping Olympic format was tested and, as expected, it threw up some difficulties in terms of ensuring the competition was fair and has since been tweaked.

With just three riders on the team, with all three scores to count, it was decided in the ‘FEI Regulations for Equestrian Events at the Olympic Games’ on April 18th 2019, that any athletes who were eliminated or retired from the competition would be given a score of four penalties more that the lowest placed athlete who completed. That meant, the athlete’s score could not be calculated until the end of the competition.

Additionally, if that athlete had racked up the highest number of penalties of the class before retiring or eliminated, a further four faults would be added to that score and that would be their score.

Mind boggling, I know. And that was supposed to make the competition easier for people to understand. There is also the issue of teams deciding not to send their third rider who could then just claim the worst score of the competition anyway and still make it through to the next round.

Speaking at the IJRC General Assembly in Rotterdam during the FEI European Show Jumping Championships in August, chair of the FEI Jumping Committee, Stephan Ellenbruch, explained why that format would not work.

“Obviously you simply can’t explain that. We couldn’t display that, it was not possible to show that and nobody would understand it so we identified [after Hagan] that it definitely has to change.

“Out of fairness, we found out it simply doesn’t work. There is a likelihood that you could make a manipulation that you are better off if you do not send your last rider in and with this, he gets the worst result plus four and wins a medal or gets through without performing,” he added.

Updated drop score rule

The latest ‘FEI Regulations for Equestrian Events at the Olympic Games’ were published online last week (October 15th) and states in Article 630.7.5: “Athletes who withdraw or who are eliminated or who retire from the competition will not be given a score; teams with one athlete who has withdrawn, retired or been eliminated from the competition will be placed according to the combined penalties incurred by the two athletes who completed the competition.

“Teams in which all three athletes completed the competition without being eliminated or retiring shall be placed before teams with only two athletes who completed the competition without being eliminated or retiring. Teams with two athletes who have withdrawn and/or retired and/or been eliminated from the competition will be eliminated.”

So in the newest rulebook, teams in which one rider fails to complete cannot finish ahead of a team of three who all complete.

Any more than one elimination and the entire team is gone.

Individual final before team competition

Another huge area of concern for riders is the individual final coming before the teams. 2020 will see a total of 75 show jumping riders start of day one in the first round of the individual competition – 60 team riders and a further 15 individuals. Some 20 teams have qualified for Tokyo, five more than the 15 that lined out at Rio 2016.

The top 30 athletes (40% of the field) after day one will go through to the individual final the following day.

To me, that format seems misjudged. While it is always the case that some riders from the weaker countries fail to make it through the first round at big championships, this format is likely to give the course designer, Santiago Varela, a big headache.

Does he go easier on the athletes on day one? But how then is that justified when the following day they will jump for the most sought after accolade in the sport – individual Olympic gold. That individual final normally comes at the end of five rounds of tough jumping.

The weaker combinations are weeded out and the very best in the sport rise to the top. Think back to the World Equestrian Games last year; the individual gold medal went to the only combination who jumped clear over five rounds.

There will be a one-day break before all 20 teams are back to contest the team competition over two days, all starting on a score of zero. The top 10 teams will go through to the team final the following day, where they will again start on a zero score.

The team final is conducted under Table A not against the clock according to JRs Art. 238.1.1 over one round with a jump-off against the clock in the event of equality of penalties for first place.

World number one Steve Guerdat, who won Olympic gold at London in 2012, made his views on this format very clear at the IJRC General Assembly in August. “If we have some journalists here today, I want them to know that the FEI are going to be the only ones responsible for the mess that we will see in Tokyo.

“You didn’t really listen to what we were saying. We were saying four riders and team first – so there was no compromise through the whole way. So I think you have to take responsibility and nowhere do I want to read that it was a compromise,” the Swiss champion said.

Substitutes – when can they be used?

For each discipline, each team may substitute a maximum of one athlete/horse combination during the event. For the jumping team competition, a pre-competition change is allowed during the period between the end of the individual final and no later than two hours before the first team competition.

Although you might now think that this will lend teams the opportunity to swap out one of the three team members who didn’t perform well in the individual competition, in fact, substitutions are only allowed in the event of an accident or illness of an athlete or horse for medical reasons and must be accompanied by a cert from the team doctor or vet.

National Olympic Committees will be responsible for the costs of Alternate Athletes, reserve horses, and grooms attending the Olympic Games.

The Nations Cup competition in 2020 will continue to run in normal format – with four riders and a dropscore so no matter what, Tokyo will be a shock to some systems.

Next week: Eventing and dressage Olympic format

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