Olympic eventing format approved

22 October 2001

FEI rules that eventing at Athens in 2004 will follow the same format as the Burghley trial

The FEI Executive Board has approved the new Olympic three-day event format for the Athens games in 2004.

Nations will be allowed a maximum of five riders each, with the best three counting towards the team result.

All riders will complete the dressage, cross-county and show jumping phases after which the team medals will be decided. The top 25 riders will then show jump for a second time to decide the individual medals.

This format was trialled at Burghley earlier this year, where some riders raised concerns about the horses having to jump twice after cross-country.

An alternative format where the show jumping takes place before the cross-country with the final placing announced following a veterinary inspection after the final phases was trialled at Bonn-Rodderburg event.

Read Andrew Hoy’s comments on the newformat in November’s issue of Eventing magazine, click here to subscribe.

• The new rule which proposed elimination following a fall of any kind, including while riding on theflat, has been scrapped following a meeting of the FEI Rules committee at Pau.