The Kiwi flag from the WEGs
The Horse and Hound is reporting that the entire New Zealand 2012 Olympic eventing squad is moving to England this spring. New Zealand took the unconventional step of naming their 5 rider Olympic short list last December. Three riders on the squad–Andrew Nicholson, Mark Todd, and Caroline Powell–are already based in England along with the Kiwi vet and farrier. The other two riders on the list, Jonathan Paget and Clarke Johnstone, will relocate to England. The team coach, Erik Duvander said:
“Our riders need to compete against the best in the world — in the UK and Europe“
New Zealand placed third at the 2010 WEGs, and they are making a big commitment to win gold in 2012. We are still over a year and a half away from the Olympics and most countries are busy naming their training lists for 2011. Making the 2012 short list so early gives New Zealand major strategic advantages in being able to focus funding and coaching on just a few riders. There are certainly risks with naming the list so early, but that risk is mitigated by the fact that Andrew Nicholson was named with four horses and Mark Todd with two. Furthermore, moving to England gives the Kiwis the opportunity to acclimate their horses to England and train with the best in the world. My guess is that this model will be both successful and imitated by other nations, particularly small but powerful eventing countries, over the next few years.
[Horse and Hound via JER]
Go eventing.
