The Eventing competition will begin Friday 30 July, at Baji Koen Equestrian Park with the experienced Australian team tipped to be medal contenders.
At Tokyo 2020 both the Eventing Team and Individual medals will be decided during the same competition.
The Australian team consists of Andrew Hoy riding Vassisly de Lassos, Shane Rose riding Virgil and Stuart Tinney riding Leporis. All members of the Australian Eventing team are previous Olympic medallists, with an impressive total of eight Olympic medals between them.
Eventing Team
The Format
Eventing is sometimes described as an Equestrian triathlon, and encompasses three phases – Dressage, Cross Country and Jumping – all completed on the same horse, over consecutive days.
Dressage is the first phase to take place and athletes are required to complete a test in front of 3 judges to showcase the horse’s obedience, flexibility and harmony. Each movement is scored out of 10, with the overall score converted into penalties, which the combination carries forward to the next two phases.
Cross country is the second phase and is unique to the sport of Eventing. Each athlete will gallop across around 4500m of natural country terrain with up to 38 obstacles such as logs, water and ditches increasing the difficulty. This phase tests the courage, strength and fitness of the athletes and horses.
Penalties can be incurred for jumping errors, refusals or exceeding the time allowed. Any penalties are added to the Dressage score and carried forward to the Jumping round.
The following morning all horses are required to pass a horse inspection, where the Ground Jury will assess their soundness, before they can progress to the third and final phase – Jumping.
The Jumping phase demonstrates the horse’s energy, suppleness and obedience following the strenuous cross-country test. Athletes compete in an arena over a course of 11-12 knock-able obstacles.
The aim is to complete the course without incurring any penalties. Penalties can be incurred for knocking down a rail, refusing an obstacle or exceeding the time allowed. Any penalties accumulated are then added to the Dressage and Cross-Country scores to decide the Olympic Team Champions, with the scores of all three team members added together to decide the medallists.
The top 25 athletes will then qualify for a second Jumping test to decide the Individual medal winners.
Kirsty Pasto
#HaveAGo at Equestrian
Equestrian
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