This week, we’ll be bringing you a breakdown of each phase and its Olympic nuance with the help of several experts who were gracious enough to lend us some of their time and knowledge. So far, we’ve published a breakdown of the unique Olympic dressage test as well as the cross country phase. Now, let’s wrap this series up with some thoughts on the show jumping.

Traditionally speaking, show jumping culminates the three days of eventing as a final test of endurance and accuracy for both horse and rider. Coming into show jumping, horses and their riders will be feeling the exertion of the past two days, particularly at an intense event like the Olympics.

The show jumping is particularly influential at the Olympics for one big reason. Let’s dive in.

What makes show jumping at the Olympics unique?

Julia Krajewski and Amande de B’Neville. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.

Unlike all other competitions for eventing, the Olympics requires two show jumping rounds to determine medals. The International Olympic Committee does not hand out multiple medals off the results from one event. You can see this mirrored in other events such as gymnastics and swimming. So, the eventing show jumping works as follows:

Round 1: All remaining team riders and individuals, including any substitutes, will jump in this round. In the first round, fences can be set up to 4* max height, which is 1.25m. This round will see anywhere from 11-13 numbered fences, with a maximum of 16 jumping efforts.

Round 2: The top 25 individual riders, regardless of nation/team, will move forward to the final individual round. Substitute riders cannot go forward to this round. This round can see fences up to 5* height, which is 1.30m. The number of fences decreases for a maximum of 9 fences and 12 jumping efforts.

The second round will come after a short break for rearranging the course, meaning there isn’t a ton of time in between for recovery.

Factors to consider

Laura Collett and London 52. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.

I sat down with Michel Vaillancourt, who’s an Olympic individual medalist in show jumping and a Show Jumping Hall of Fame member, as well as a course designer for major events like Spruce Meadows and the Pan American Games, for some intel on things to consider when looking at show jumping through the eyes of a designer.

“Adding the two rounds changes the outcome of the competition for the individual riders a lot,” he remarked. “The second round is a little shorter, which is kind of a blessing, but a lot of the factor for me will come to the fitness level.”

As the schedule currently stands, there will be about an hour and a half or two hours in between the conclusion of the team round and the start of the individual final. This can be advantageous for some, and challenging for others.

“It really depends on the horse you’re on,” Michel said. “The break gives the horses a chance to rest, but it also gives them a chance to get a little tighter or to mentally switch off. None of these horses will be anticipating jumping again — that’s not how it works in eventing as a standard. As a rider, I would prefer to come back an hour later, especially looking at everything you would have done to that point. At the same time, you don’t want to break that zone.”

Boyd Martin and Tsetserleg TSF. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.

The designer for Paris will be Spain’s Santiago Varela, assisted by co-designer Gregory Bodo of France. Santiago is a lifetime student of the sport, earning the title of “Local Course Designer” at just 15 years of age in Madrid. He’s since gone on to design at World Championships, World Cup and Nations Cup competitions, as well as the last Olympics in Tokyo. There, his jumps received much recognition for their beauty and attention to detail. He’s been teamed up with Gregory since the 2014 World Equestrian Games in Normandy, France.

While we certainly see an increasing number of courses designed by designers who spend most of their time in the show jumping space, there is a level of nuance involved with the two different sports.

“It’s very different to design an eventing show jumping,” Michel noted. “The horses are a little more fatigued on this last day. There has been a lot of rideability that was lost during the cross country phase, so when you come into the show jumping you’re not as sharp as you would be if show jumping was first.”

“One thing the designers may do is go with slightly deeper cups or slightly heavier rails [that what you would see in pure show jumping]. I remember very well when we did Kentucky for instance, we weighed all the rails and kept the lighter ones for the show jumpers and the heavier ones for the eventers. But at an event like the Aiken Showcase, I use lighter rails and shallower cups. At the Games, you might just want to give them a bit of a chance — or not! It is the Olympics.”

Speaking to what he’s observed of Santiago’s design style, Michel says he looks forward to seeing what he lays out for our eventers. “I would say he’s a very classic course designer,” he said. “If you’ve done your homework and are totally prepared, I’d say you can do really well. Some course designers might suit certain types of horses and riders and not so much others. I don’t think that’s really going to be the case with Santiago, I think he will give us a real quality of work.”

What can we take away from watching?

Tom McEwen and Toledo de Kerser. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.

Michel will be the first to tell you — regardless of what level you compete at — that practice in the jumping ring is invaluable. Many eventers now dedicate portions of their competition calendar to some extra time doing jumpers. This will pay off in Paris, he says.

“I do praise the guys that do it,” he said. “Show jumping is becoming more and more important in this discipline, and there was a time when the riders weren’t spending enough time on it. It’s different at an event. You have no opportunity to come back in, fix an issue, solve a problem. You go back home and then you’re getting ready for your next dressage test or conditioning. I would suggest to at least twice or three times a year to give yourself a block of three weeks where you do show jumping and nothing else. And then you go back to your routine. But really take advantage of the jumping show, and that includes everybody. You can be a Beginner Novice rider and go in the ring and jump four rounds and then come back and do it the next week. In two weeks, you’ve jumped the equivalent of eight events. It can only help you.”

And that practice will pay off for many this weekend. In Tokyo, just four pairs came away with two clear show jumping rounds. One pair, Nicolas Touzaint and Absolute Gold HDC, jumped clear in the second round but had one second of time. Seven of the top 25 jumped clear in the first round but had rails down in the second round. 80% of the individual field had at least one rail down. This goes to show just how influential the final phase stands to be (as it should be!), and it will make for some fascinating, nail-biting action.

“It comes down to slight little mistakes and errors,” Michel said. “But the top riders will make every technicality look very simple. Many of our eventers now are good enough that they could blend in as show jumpers. There was a time when jumps got demolished in this phase. Not so much anymore. The cream will rise to the top, it always does. There are no lucky winners in the Olympics.”

With that, our breakdown series concludes and we hope you are feeling prepped and ready for the action to begin in just a couple of days! We’ll see you very soon. For more from EN on the Olympics, click the banner below.

This week, we’ll be bringing you a breakdown of each phase and its Olympic nuance with the help of several experts who were gracious enough to lend us some of their time and knowledge. Let’s kick things off with the Olympic dressage test, which you can view yourself here for reference.

Phillip Dutton and Z in Tokyo. Photo by Shannon Brinkman.

As we mentioned in our scoring guide to the Olympics published last week, the dressage test for this weekend, while still considered a 5*-level test, is quite different from the tests we typically see in competition. The major difference is its length: while the four existing CCI5* tests average about 4:45 to 5 minutes, this test has a run time of 3:50. There is one anomaly here in CCI5* test D, which we don’t see too often in competition but has a similar run time of 4:05.

Time crunch

Why is this test so much shorter — nearly a full minute shorter than most of its counterparts? This change came down from the IOC, which approached the FEI and required all eventing dressage to be completed within one day to aid in spectator-friendliness, among other reasons. Generally in 5* competition, you’d see rides spaced at about 7 to 8 minutes apart. With this new requirement, this would no longer possible. It was decided that the newly-written test must come in at under 4 minutes to allow upwards of 80 horses to complete dressage in one day.

“To get everybody in, in one day, we had to do the four-minute test — or we were out of the Olympics,” Marilyn Payne, who most recently served as president of the Ground Jury for eventing at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and was on the committee that wrote the new Olympic test for the postponed 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

“So we had to get creative,” she explained, describing the decisions to cut out lengthier movements such as a large amount of walk work or a canter stretching circle. “There’s no halt on the first centerline, which saves you about ten seconds. But we had to keep all the compulsory movements. We had to have four changes, half-passes in both directions, medium and extended gaits. So it was a lot to cram into four minutes.”

An intense test of skill

Doug Payne and Vandiver. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.

The lack of a first halt will serve the competitors well, Marilyn says, as it allows them to establish a vital forward rhythm right off the bat. An extended trot immediately follows the first centerline. The riders then go straight into their first lateral movement, a shoulder-in to a steep half-pass. And once you’re into it, the test is unrelenting.

“Everything comes up so quick. It’s hard,” Marilyn said. “When we were drafting the test, we had to ride it ourselves or have our students ride it. And let me tell you, they struggled. Even pure dressage horses, for one they weren’t used to doing these movements, but it was really interesting because you couldn’t get a winning ride out of what I judged as a test.”

Another interesting component of the test comes at the start of the canter work. After completing the extended and medium walk work on short diagonals, riders must pick up the right, counter lead at A. This is not a movement we see in typical 5* tests, and it was put here intentionally by the test writers in order to fit in the compulsory amount of lead changes.

“In order to get four changes, two of them are normally singles done on a diagonal line. So what we had to do is put two changes on the same diagonal, but we didn’t want to make them sequence changes so we spaced it out so it was on each quarter line. But in order to do that, you had to start on the counter lead, or you’d finish on the counter lead. That was very creative, I thought,” Marilyn said.

Another interesting fact about this test is that it marked the addition of a “Harmony” mark, replacing the former collective marks found at the conclusion of each test. While this addition has many roots, one of them was simple: by replacing a cluster of collective marks with a single additional score, it saved the judges time at the end of a test, therefore aiding in the adherence to the 4 minute timeframe.

So we could have a proper visual of the test, we asked German Olympic rider and dressage score record-holder Bettina Hoy for her help. Watch the video below with sound to see Grand Prix dressage rider Annika Korte with her horse Fürst zu Bentlage demonstrate the test with commentary from Bettina:

For her part, Annika, who competes in pure dressage, found the test intricate and challenging, even if it’s not a Prix St. Georges or Grand Prix equivalent. The steepness of the half-passes and the strike off in counter canter are two elements that are particularly challenging within this test.

The evolution of dressage in Olympic Eventing

It’s no secret that dressage in eventing has evolved for the better. As the types of horse bred for and used in eventing trended toward quality movement and the tests have demanded better riding, scores have lowered and become increasingly influential in the final standings.

“Oh, it’s improved leaps and bounds,” Marilyn agreed. “I can remember a few Olympics ago when I was coaching and I couldn’t believe what those riders didn’t know — some of the basic things they didn’t know. And when we introduced the stretch circle in, that was a big deal. They just missed a lot of basics because they were trying to do three things so they never really delved that deep into dressage, but now they are. They get the top dressage trainers to help them. When you make the test harder, they step up to the plate and it makes them work at it more.”

So while this test is challenging and intense, yes, it will certainly serve its purpose, Marilyn believes. “It’s really going to separate them,” she said. “And it’s the Olympics. It should be the top. There are some countries that aren’t as strong in the dressage but the horses can run and jump. It’s not going to be easy, and you only have three scores to count.”

How can riders best prepare for the Olympic test?

Francisco Gavino Gonzalez (Spain) and Source De La Faye. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.

“They’ve got to not practice the test,” Marilyn emphasized. “The horses will start to anticipate. You keep changing it up, you mix it up so the horse is not anticipating. The riders themselves do need to practice the test so that they don’t even have to think about where they’re going, but this can be done on other horses.”

Really, the test does what any dressage test is supposed to: tests the responsiveness of a horse to the rider’s aids. This test, at the Olympic level, does so in spades.

“Practice to get the horse going better, get the quality of the gait better and the quality of the connection better,” Marilyn continued. “And you’ve really got to practice that walk to counter canter. Get yourself into the space where you can really focus on the horse that’s underneath you.”

Coming next, I sat down with Derek di Grazia, who designed cross country for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, to talk about what we can expect to see on an Olympic course. 

Phillip Dutton and Z. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.

The Olympics provides a competitive opportunity unlike any other in the eventing space, due to some differences both in format as well as how medals are determined at the end of competition. We did the legwork unpacking the rules to make them easier to understand (maybe) – let’s dive in.

What makes the Olympics unique?

While the Olympics (currently, at least) follow the same three-day schedule as a traditional event — dressage, followed by cross country, followed by show jumping — there are a few key differences to note.

1. Starting in 2020 (or, 2021 when the postponed Olympics in Tokyo actually happened), the four-person-team format, which saw the highest score dropped in each phase, was done away with. It was replaced with a three-member team – and no dropped score. Instead, teams have three opportunities to make a substitution before and during competition, at the cost of 20 penalties added to the score of the team. This was put in place in an effort to open the sport up to more qualified nations, and the substitute allowance gives a team a shot at completing the Olympics, though with the penalties imposed that team could be rendered out of medal contention.
2. The dressage test for the Olympics is unique and was specifically written for the Games. It is not used in any other competition worldwide.
3. The show jumping is held over two rounds. First, all remaining members of teams as well as the individuals remaining will jump in the first round to determine team medals. From there, the top 25 individuals (based on their individual score to date) will move forward to a final round of show jumping over a slightly modified course. This determines the final individual placings, with any penalties accrued added to their overall score to calculate the finishing score. Why? Because the International Olympic Committee cannot give out more than one medal (team and individual medals, for example) via one competition. To avoid having to do the whole shebang over again, the second round of show jumping ticks this box.
4. While CCI5* is the loftiest level of the sport, the Olympics are not run as a 5*. The dressage test is a 5* test, though it’s been shortened compared to its counterparts to take 4 minutes or less. Cross country is set at CCI4* specifications, with a speed of approximately 570 meters per minute, which is the same speed as 4*. The cross country at the Olympics will be set at approximately 8 minutes’ optimum time with a maximum of 42 jumping efforts, which falls in between 4* and 5* regulation but is the maximum number of efforts set out for World Championships and Olympics by the FEI. For show jumping, the team round will be held over a maximum height of 1.25m (4* height), while the individual round can see fences up to 1.30m (5* height). 11-13 jumps, with a maximum of 16 jumping efforts, will be found in the team show jumping round, and 9 fences with a maximum of 12 efforts will be put into the individual round. An “effort”, remember, can be a related combination, so a jump number 5ABC would count as 1 jump, but 3 efforts.

Substitutions

Photo by Sally Spickard.

Before the start of dressage, a pre-competition change may be made at no penalty. For this reason, the Traveling Reserve pairs will participate in the First Horse Inspection. The deadline for this type of change is two hours before the start of dressage competition.

Once competition begins, a substitution may only be made for reason of injury or illness on the part of either the rider or the horse. You cannot, therefore, substitute a pair because they are “stronger” in one phase or another — there must be a confirmed illness or injury made by the veterinarians or team doctor to determine eligibility for this. A team may substitute one horse/rider per competition. For eventing, there are two windows in which a substitution can be made: after dressage and up to two hours before cross country, and after cross country up to two hours before team show jumping. Reserve horses will also trot up in the Second Horse Inspection to maintain their eligibility to slot in for this phase.

Substitutions carry 20 penalties, which are added to the team’s overall score if used. Remember, a team may only make one substitution throughout the entire competition. Pairs that are called in as substitutes are not eligible for individual medal contention.

There’s another important layer to this substitution concept. Unlike other FEI competitions, pairs that encounter elimination in a phase can, in some scenarios, go on to complete the competition, albeit with heftier penalties. For dressage and show jumping, this penalty is 100 points per rider. For cross country, it’s an additional 200 per rider.

Here are some visual representations of the information I just shared, in case your brain is feeling as mushy as mine is (am I 1000% confident I’ve interpreted the rules correctly? No. Am I 1000% confident someone on the internet will let me know if I’m wrong? Yes.). Thanks to our resident data wizard Allie Heninger for slapping these babies together:

We’ll lay this out in a series of scenarios, using cross country as the primary example:

Scenario 1: All competitors on a team complete cross country, but in the Second Horse Inspection a horse is not accepted or is withdrawn due to lameness. At this point, the team can opt to use a substitute if they have not already, incurring a total of 20 additional penalties. The substitute pair is not eligible for individual medal contention. The team does not incur the additional penalties of 100 or 200 marks because the eliminated or withdrawn horse completed the previous phase.

Scenario 2: One pair is eliminated on cross country for refusals, by technical elimination, missing a flag, or for fall of rider. That pair can actually still continue on to the team show jumping round, but this will incur a larger penalty. For cross country, this is 200 penalties (per rider). Pairs disqualified for a Horse Fall or lameness are not eligible to continue the competition in the next phase, but a team may then choose to substitute a reserve pair without the original rule of the substitution needing to be only for injury or illness. Any other substitution scenario must still qualify with an illness or injury to horse or rider, unless otherwise stated in the rules.

[Editor’s Note] The way the rule for substitution is written is wholly unclear, to be honest. I checked with several colleagues and a Technical Delegate to help myself clarify the sub rule, which does indicate that if a pair is eliminated for something like refusals on cross country, another pair can in fact be substituted at that point if the team chooses. Doing so, however, does not negate the incurrence of 200 additional penalties for failure to complete the phase.

Scenario 3: A team has one rider complete cross country, but its other two team riders are eliminated on refusals. Those two eliminated riders can continue on to show jumping (provided, of course, there is no injury and the horses pass the Second Horse Inspection) with a total of 400 penalties added (200 per rider). Yes, the team could choose to substitute (again, in the event of illness or injury only), but doing so would not negate the additional 200 penalties for each pair that did not complete.

Scenario 4: A pair is eliminated for Abuse of Horse or Dangerous Riding. At this point, the team is not eligible to submit a substitution, nor is that rider eligible to proceed in competition.

Scenario 5: All but one pair in a team completes the team qualification show jumping round. The team incurs 100 additional penalties for failure to complete a phase. At this time, the team would not be eligible for a substitute, as this must be done no less than 2 hours before the start of the team show jumping round.

Who goes first?

Doug Payne and Vandiver in Tokyo. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.

While we know which horses and riders have been selected, what we don’t yet know is the order in which we’ll see the competitors. This can be influential, particularly on cross country day! To determine the order of nations, a draw will be held prior to the First Horse Inspection. After the trot-up, there will be an official Chef d’Equipe meeting during which the heads of each team will declare their starters and the order in which they will compete. The resulting order will be used for dressage and cross country.

For show jumping, the individual riders will be the first to jump in the team/qualifying round, in reverse order of standing. The team riders will follow, competing in turn and also in reverse order of standing by team and individual scores. For the individual medal round, the top 25 individuals, regardless of nation, will return and jump in reverse order of standing.

What if there’s a tie?

Laura Collett and London 52. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.

It’s fairly unlikely, but if there is a tie between two or more athletes for individual medals, the first tiebreaker used will be the cross country score, including faults at obstacles and time penalties. Basically, the pair that had the fewest time penalties will win the tiebreaker. If there’s still a tie, the breaker will then go to the highest dressage score. Five additional tiebreaker steps are also in place and can be viewed here.

In the event of a team tie, the first tiebreaker will be using the top three-ranked individual scores, with priority given to teams that have not used a substitute. If there is a tie between teams that have used a substitute, the tie will be won by the team with the highest placed individuals who completed all three phases. Additional tiebreakers can be found here.

Make sense? No? Cool, we’re on the same page then. I hope this has been somewhat informative for you as it truly is a rather complicated array of rules. Personally, I’d rather see the return of a four-member team with a dropped score and none of this substitution and continuing after elimination nonsense, though I also see how this can be useful for helping teams complete which was the IOC’s intention in encouraging the format changes.

Coming next, we’ll be bringing you a breakdown of each phase in the Olympics, including expert commentary on what to expect. In the meantime, if you want to dive into the Olympic rules yourself, don’t let us stop you! Click here to view them. 

It’s very nearly go time for the 2024 Summer Olympics, hosted this year in Paris, France. Of course, we’re highly focused on the eventing competition, which will run from July 27-29, but our sister site, Horse Nation, will be providing additional resources for following the schedule of dressage and show jumping.

For now, we’ve gathered as much information as is available currently regarding watching the action live, no matter what sport you want to tune in for. You can also save the graphics embedded below for an easy reference on the eventing timetable in different time zones around the world. Failing that, the easiest way to tell exactly when you’ll need to tune in is to check this page, which will automatically convert the times into your local time zone. WorldTimeBuddy is another free resource that allows you to easily calculate time differences — click here to use it.

The Schedule

Eventing will begin with the First Horse Inspection at 9:30 a.m. local time / 3:30 a.m. ET on Friday, July 26. The Second Horse Inspection will take place on July 29 at 7:30 a.m. local time / 1:30 a.m. ET on Monday, July 29. The trot-ups will not be live streamed, but we will be keeping you up to date on both jogs using Threads (follow EN here).

Dressage: 9:30 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. local time / 3:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 27
Cross Country: 10:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. local time / 4:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. ET on Sunday, July 28
Show Jumping – Team Round: 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. local time / 5:00 a.m. – 7:00 a.m. ET on Monday, July 29
Show Jumping – Individual Round (Top 20 Individuals): 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. local time / 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. ET on Monday, July 29

The full equestrian timetable can also be found here.

Timetable Guides

Live Streaming and On Demand Options

The full list of Media Broadcast Rights Holders, or networks on which you can find Olympic coverage in your country, can be found here. Some worldwide content will be available on the Olympic channel here.

Please note: The list below is a collection of information we have found based on the document linked above provided by Paris. We cannot guarantee the availability of all sports and/or on-demand access — you’ll want to check the specifications for your home platform for the most up to date information! If we have missed any information, please email [email protected].

Below are links to the various platforms you can tune in to for the countries the majority of EN readers hail from:

USA

Peacock is your best bet in the U.S. to access all events from Paris. Some coverage will also be shown live on NBC’s family of platforms, but we recommend getting a Peacock subscription so as not to miss a moment and also to have access to on demand replays. We are not sure how quickly events will be available for replay but will update this article with more information as we find it.

Olympics on Peacock

Canada

CBC is the sole broadcast rights holder in Canada. The streaming schedule for CBC can be found here. Be sure to select “Equestrian – Eventing” AND “Equestrian – Dressage” to view the schedule for all phases – thanks to EN reader Denya for the tip as we initially thought there would not be a live stream of eventing dressage!

United Kingdom and Europe

Warner Brothers Discovery is the rights holder in the UK and Europe, but for the UK audience BBC has licensed these rights to allow it to also provide streaming coverage of the Games. You can stream the BBC’s coverage via its iPlayer platform here. Eurosport will also carry some broadcasts, which will be found here. Discovery+ is another option for accessing Olympic robust coverage. In European countries, check your local listings as there may also be additional sub-licensing that was granted from Warner Brothers.

[Update] Additionally, Warner Brothers Discovery has rolled out Max, which together with Discovery+ has been touted as the primary source for Olympic coverage in the UK and Europe. You can view more information on this platform here, and check your local Max platform for more details if you’re in Europe.

Australia

Nine is the provider of Olympic broadcast for Australia, the Christmas Islands, and the Cocos Islands. You can view their Olympic channel here.

New Zealand

Sky Sport is the host broadcaster for New Zealand. Click here to view their platform and options for watching.

Asia

CMG is the Olympic broadcast host in China. Japan Consortium is the provider in Japan. SBS is the provider in Korea. To view all carriers in Asia and beyond, click here.

We know the eventing globe spans many more regions than what we have listed above! Click here to see where you can view Olympic coverage in your country. Additional information may also be found here during the Games.

Tim Price and Vitali represent New Zealand in the Tokyo Olympics. Photo by Shannon Brinkman.

We are inching closer to the start of eventing competition in Paris, and we thought it would be useful to help you (and ourselves!) keep track of the named teams and individuals heading to the Olympics.

Eventing competition in the Olympics has evolved over time. In 2021, the year of the postponed 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, a new team format was introduced with a total of three riders on a team along with a Traveling Reserve that does not compete unless substituted. This meant the elimination of the four-person, one drop score format and allowed for the IOC to include a larger number of participating nations. The change and its associated scoring updates (teams are heavily penalized for substituting a reserve in during competition — more on this coming soon in our Scoring Guide) was met with mixed reviews, as most changes are, but the underscoring factor remains that it now has become that much more difficult to complete a team, much less medal at the Olympics.

The eventing quota in Paris is a total of 65 combinations, comprised of 16 three-pair teams (48 combinations) and 17 individual combinations. Each of the 16 teams are also given the option to send a Traveling Reserve, meaning we’ll see up to 81 horses arriving in Paris for eventing. [Update, July 11] With the confirmation of Definite Entries, we’ll see a total of 81 horses and riders come forward for eventing, including Traveling Reserve pairs.

[Update, July 11] Definite Entries have been published here, and our tracker below is now up to date with the final rosters of each nation.

Qualified Nations

Team Germany stamped their ticket to Paris at the 2022 FEI World Championships for Eventing in Italy. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

The FEI has divided the world up into competition groups:

A – North Western Europe; B – South Western Europe C – Central & Eastern Europe; Central Asia D & E – North America, Central & South America F – Africa & Middle East G – South East Asia, Oceania

Teams had two primary chances to qualify, regardless of group: one via FEI World Championships and the other via the 2023 FEI Nations Cup. Qualifiers for each group were also designated for additional opportunities to secure a spot. As the host country, France automatically earned a spot for a team, meaning they did not need to qualify in any other way. (Note: If a team qualified and sent competitors to another qualifying event (i.e., the U.S., after qualifying with their silver medal finish at Pratoni in 2022, also sent a team to Pan Ams in 2023), the Olympic spot would go to the next highest placed team that did not already have a berth secured.)

The 16 teams were delegated as follows:

Host Country: France

Top 7 teams from FEI World Championships for Eventing (2022 – Pratoni del Vivaro): Germany, USA, New Zealand, Great Britain, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland

Top 2 as-yet-unqualified teams from FEI European Championships (2023 – Le Pin au Haras) – Groups A/B: Belgium, Netherlands

Top unqualified team from Group C FEI Designated Olympic Qualification Event (2023 – Babarowko): Poland

Top 2 unqualified teams from 2023 Pan American Games (Santiago) – Groups D/E: Canada, Brazil

Top 2 unqualified teams from Groups F/G FEI Designated Olympic Qualification Event (2023 – Millstreet) – Groups F/G: Australia, Japan (Japan were retroactively awarded this place after China’s disqualification)

Top unqualified team from 2023 FEI Nations Cup series for Eventing: Italy

In the event any of the above nations become unable to send a team, the Reserve nations are Spain, China, and Finland.

Individual Qualifications

Lea Siegl and DSP Fighting Line compete as individuals for Austria in Tokyo. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.

Through the acquisition of FEI World Ranking points, smaller federations can qualify for one of the 17 individual quota places. Nations that are sending a team are not eligible to send individuals. The quotas were determined based on the best four results per horse/rider combination during the qualification period of January 1 through December 31, 2023. The two top-ranked individuals in each FEI group referenced above could secure an individual quota spot, with a maximum of two berths available per country.

Countries that have qualified for their individual quota spots are:

• Austria (2 spots)
• China (2 spots)
• Czechia (2 spots)
• Denmark
• Ecuador (2 spots)
• Finland (2 spots)
• Hungary
• Morocco
• Portugal
• South Africa
• Spain (2 spots)

More information on qualifications can be found here.

FEI Paris 2024 Information Hub

Below, we’ll keep track of the teams and individuals that have been confirmed. As of July 11, the Definite Entries were released here, and we’ve updated our lists below accordingly.

Team List (Alphabetical by Country – Rider | Horse | Owner): (* indicates Traveling Reserve pair)

🇦🇺 AUSTRALIA

BELGIUM 🇧🇪

BRAZIL 🇧🇷

CANADA 🇨🇦

FRANCE 🇫🇷

GERMANY 🇩🇪

GREAT BRITAIN 🇬🇧

IRELAND 🇮🇪

ITALY 🇮🇹

JAPAN 🇯🇵

NETHERLANDS 🇳🇱

NEW ZEALAND 🇳🇿

POLAND 🇵🇱

SWEDEN 🇸🇪

SWITZERLAND 🇨🇭

UNITED STATES 🇺🇸

INDIVIDUAL List (Alphabetical by Country – Rider | Horse | Owner):

View more of EN’s coverage of the Paris Olympics here. We are pleased to bring you our Olympic coverage with support from Kentucky Performance Products.