Rio 2016 Olympics: H&H launches countdown this week
Horse & Hound launches its Rio Olympic coverage in this week’s (23 June) magazine with a six-week countdown to the Games.
The popular regular feature slots in the magazine — H&H interview, Horse hero, The best of my Fun, Move it like and The horse that made me — have all been tweaked to give them a Rio spin in the run-up to the Olympics.
Every week H&H will profile horses and riders who are ones to watch in Rio, as well as taking a nostalgic look back at past Olympics, including the wonderful home Games in London four years ago.
Extra features will also look at topics such as horse sport in Brazil and equestrian families with more than one Olympian.
“The ‘Olympic takeover’ was a brilliant idea by our features editor, Madeleine Pitt, and she is doing a wonderful job masterminding and juggling the whole concept — not easy when you have to take into account selection dates and changes in form,” said magazine editor Pippa Roome.
“I can’t wait to celebrate the run-up to Rio in this way, plus of course we have lots of excitement planned for our preview and report issues once we get nearer to Games time.
“We won’t be using every single one of the feature slots for the Olympic theme every week because we want to continue to feature non-Olympic disciplines too. Fans of showing in particular can rest assured that they won’t be forgotten during their busy summer season.
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“But H&H readers will be in no doubt that the Games are coming and this will be a great way to help people get behind the build-up.”
Those featured in the first Olympic countdown issue (dated 23 June) include Charlotte Dujardin, Joe Clee, Anky van Grunsven and Padraig McCarthy’s ride Simon Porloe.
Among the stars coming up in future issues are Pippa Funnell, Geoff Billington, Emile Faurie, Tina Cook, David O’Connor, Kristina Bröring-Sprehe’s Desperados FRH, Leslie Law, Beezie Madden, Jeroen Dubbledam’s SFN Zenith NOP, Peter Charles and Ginny Elliot.
Related articles:
- British riders line up for major pre-Rio showdown
- Beginners’ guide to Olympic eventing
- Beginners’ guide to Olympic showjumping
Don’t miss any of H&H’s Olympic issues:
23 June-28 July: Olympic countdown, every Thursday28 July: Olympic preview — your must-have guide to the British contenders and who they have to beat, plus detailed timetable and how to follow4 August: Olympic pull-out form guide — including every rider and horse at the Games, plus scorecards to fill in12 August (H&H is published on Friday this week to allow us to report the full Olympic eventing, which finishes on Tuesday, 9 August): Olympic eventing report18 August: Olympic dressage report25 August: Olympic showjumping report1 September: Olympic commemorative issue
Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now
