Olympics

The Swiss Supreme Court has rejected an appeal filed by Tony Andre Hansen of Norway against his disqualification from the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Hansen’s horse, Camiro, tested positive for the prohibited substance capsaicin during the Olympic Games, and Hansen was provisionally suspended on Aug. 21, 2008. Shortly after, a panel of the Fédération Equestre Internationale Tribunal heard the case and issued their final decision on Dec. 22, 2008. Hansen was suspended until Jan. 2, 2009, and was also disqualified from all placings with Camiro at the Games.

Alec Lochore has been named the eventing manager for the 2012 Olympic Games, to be held in London, according to the BBC.

Lochore is a well-known organizer of horse trials throughout the country, most notably the Burnham Market, Houghton and Blair Castle Horse Trials. He is an FEI technical delegate, as well as the chairman of British Eventing’s national safety committee. 

Bob Ellis of Great Britain has been appointed as the jumping course designer for the London 2012 Olympic Games. Ellis was the designer for the 2009 Alltech FEI European Jumping Championships.

Ellis will be responsible for the courses for all the show jumping competitions, as well as the show jumping portion of the three-day eventing. He will be supported by an experienced international team that includes Kelvin Bywater of Great Britain, Stephen Renouard, also from Great Britain, Bernardo Costa Cabral of Portugal, and Alan Wade of Ireland.

In 1988, 11-year-old Hawley Bennett was walking back and forth along her driveway carrying a bottle of dish soap. Why? To make sure her arm wouldn’t get tired while carrying the Olympic Torch. 

Bennett had entered a contest to carry the torch through Langley, B.C. Out of 500 contestants she was chosen as one of three finalists and gave a speech in front of 1,000 people. “I remember everything about that day, right down to the horrible puffy white blouse my mother made me wear,” said Bennett. 

The majority of 40 jumps on the Olympic cross-country course in Greenwich Park, London, England, will be portable according to Horse & Hound. The jumps will be built at an off-site location and then transported to the park and installed about a month before the start of the Olympic Games.

As a result, Greenwich Park will only be closed to the public for about a month. If the cross-country elements were built on site, the closure would be much longer.

The International Olympic Committee voted to award the 2016 Olympic Games to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, today, Oct. 2.

This will be the first time a South American city has hosted the Games. The Pan American Games were held in Rio in 2007.

German show jumper Christian Ahlmann is ineligible to compete at the 2012 London Olympic Games, according to the International Olympic Committee.

An IOC rule introduced before the 2008 Olympic Games bans athletes from the next Olympic Games if they received a drug suspension of at least six months in the previous four-year period. “Should an athlete get caught doping in [2008] and then get a sanction of six months, he will not be eligible for the 2012 London Games,” said IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies.

Linda Allen has written a thought-provoking Between Rounds column for this week’s issue. I believe it should be required reading for any rider with international aspirations, whether they’re show jumpers or competing in other disciplines.

The man who became the first American to win an Olympic individual equestrian gold medal'at Mexico City in 1968'recalls the gifts and foibles of the horse with whom he jumped into history.

I first learned of Snowbound's existence from the lips of John (later Sir John) Galvin, the Australian-born benefactor of both the U.S. and Irish equestrian teams.

"I've found a horse that might make you a useful hack," he told me, using a vernacular term he often employed. Like many of his remarks, this one proved a considerable understatement.

Now that we’ve had a few months to digest the highs and lows of the Olympic Games in Hong Kong—from the phenomenal performances of our North American medalists to the doping incidents that are currently being settled by the Fédération Equestre Internationale Tribunal (p. 60)—we can reflect on their impacts.