Ireland to field a full eventing team at the London Olympics

Ireland will field a full team of five in the Olympic eventing this summer.

Ireland was guaranteed three places through riders’ ranking positions at the 1 March cut-off, but also held first and third reserve spots.

Argentina gained a team qualification for five riders at last year’s Pan American Games – run at two-star level – but has only managed to get two riders individually qualified to ride at the Olympics, a four-star championship. This means three places go to reserves.

With the final date for qualification being last Sunday (17 June), Argentinean rider Jos © Luis Ortelli Jr made a last-ditch attempt to qualify in the CIC*** at Luhm ¼hlen last weekend, but was eliminated for a fall in the second water complex, the Me Ÿmer Teich (fences 15, 16abc and 17).

This means Ireland gains two more spots for London, with the other space going to Poland, which held second place on the reserve list.

“All the riders worked very hard from the autumn season through to this spring, making an effort to go to the correct competitions to gain rankings points, which resulted in them getting three riders in and first and third on the reserve list,” said Irish performance manager Ginny Elliot.

“They deserve to have a full team and to get the other two places is a really good result.”

“This means we have a chance to compete on an equal footing with the other teams and it’s very exciting for owners and families, as well as riders.”

The Irish shortlist was revealed after Tattersalls earlier this month and the final team will be named after Barbury next week (28 June-1 July).

Full report of Luhm ¼hlen in H&H this week (out 21 June).

Pippa Roome

H&H magazine editor and eventing editor

Pippa is a true eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand experience of competing up to British Eventing intermediate and international CCI2*-L level, and has worked in the industry on a top event yard. Pippa enjoys nothing more than immersing herself in the sport at the highest level, reporting from the five-stars and international championships, including the Olympics.