Three nations clinched spots for the 2012 London Olympic Games at the FEI European Dressage Championships, held in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Sweden, Spain and Denmark all qualified based on their finishes in the team competition on Aug. 18. 

The top-placed three teams of the European Championships traditionally receive automatic qualification for the Olympic Games. In this case, the top three—Great Britain, Germany and the Netherlands—had previously won qualification. Great Britain qualified as the host country, and Germany and the Netherlands did so based on their performance at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Kentucky. That left the teams in fourth, fifth and sixth—Sweden, Spain and Denmark respectively—to take the qualification spots.

Four qualification spots still remain open for the 2012 Olympics. The next chance for direct qualification comes at the Pan American Games, held Oct. 14-19 in Guadalajara, Mexico. The United States already qualified at the WEG, so two more teams will have the chance to qualify at the Pan Ams, and there are two additional qualifiers, one in Australia and one in the Netherlands, after that.

Eleven nations qualify directly for the 2012 Olympic dressage competition, with a team consisting of three athletes and three horses. However, the total number of nations participating in team competition in London may exceed 11 since additional composite teams made up of three individuals from the same nation may qualify through the FEI Olympic Athletes Rankings.

The complete qualification procedure for the dressage competitions at the 2012 Olympic Games is available at FEI.org.