According to the Horse & Hound, some European countries are not happy with current qualifying procedures. No, this doesn’t concern Capt. Mark Phillips and his Magic-8 ball; this is about how countries are selected to participate in the Olympic Games equestrian disciplines.
The issue is that it seems noticeably easier for certain countries to qualify than others– namely, nations participating in the Pan American Games compared to those based in Europe and elsewhere. It’s something to think about: the diversity of world participation vs. the quality of competitors participating.
From a BBC Show Jumping article, it’s a complicated selection process. The top teams from 2010 WEG are automatically qualified. Britain is automatically included as the host nation. From there, different team competitions (European Championships, Pan Ams, etc) will qualify the additional top teams.
This wikipedia article breaks it down very nicely into table format for all three disciplines. In Eventing, here is the result:
Great Britain: host country, automatically included.
5 countries automatic bid from WEG performance: CAN, USA, NZL, GER, BEL
2 countries from European Eventing Championships: FRA, SWE
2 countries from Pan American Games: BRZ, ARG
“Pacific Rim” Championship (Blenheim): JPN
Are the best eventing nations truly represented from the above list? Is there a better way to get the best countries qualified? Or should the spirit of the Olympics be more about diverse participation instead of the world’s very best competitors? From a competition standpoint, the Olympics is usually a 3-star level xc course; compared to the 4-star championship caliber of the WEGs. But how does that figure for Dressage and Show Jumping? The FEI is planning to conduct a survey concerning this qualification issue.
