Gender Equity
Yachting and equestrian are the only sports in which male and female athletes compete against one another. Despite this distinction, female athletes must still undergo gender verification testing to ensure that no males masquerade as females. Princess Anne, former president of the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI), is the only woman ever excused from the test. She competed for the British team in 1976.
Equine Athletes
Unlike any other sport in the Olympic Games, all equestrian events require a partnership with an animal. To have a better feel for the equine competitors, pay attention to what you’re seeing. Full-grown horses are called either mares (a female at least 4 years old), stallions (a male horse) or geldings (castrated males). And their height is measured in "hands," which is equivalent to 4 inches. In dressage and show jumping, they wear bridle numbers -- small numbers attached where the browband meets the headpiece on the side of the equipment used to "steer" the horse, called a bridle. Such horse’s equipment as a whole is called its "tack" and includes other items like the saddle.
Only the uninitiated would view a mount as mere equipment, and they are not without their own followings. Cornishman V (GBR), like many Olympians, took advantage of his Olympic success in team three day eventing to begin a movie career. He appeared in two movies after his 1968 and 1972 Olympic victories, including National Velvet in 1978. His predessor, Foxhunter, also of Great Britain, received thousands of fan letters and gifts after he helped his mount, Henry Llewellyn, secure the gold in team jumping in a dramatic final ride in Helsinki in 1952. His popularity escalated when a rumor spread that he had learned to sign his name. His skeleton was preserved by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.
Event Organizers
All events fall under the direction of the same international governing body, the Federation Equestre Internationale, based in Switzerland. With 78 member countries represented by their respective National Federations (NFs), the FEI promotes the organization of the sport and standardizes rules and regulations for international equestrian events throughout the world.
At each event, a ground jury determines the winners and an appeal committee settles any disputes against them. Each country has a manager, called a chef d’equipe, who watches out for his or her team. Course designers called technical delegates and veterinarians make sure the courses are top notch and the horses well tended. Once organizers are confident that horses and riders will be challenged but safe, competition can begin.
Dressage
In coat and hat, dressage riders epitomize grace. The key is for horse and rider to work as one and perform a series of compulsory movements with precision and fluidity. While dressage is the oldest discipline of riding, it is the least known when it comes to Olympic competition. The word, in French, means simply training, and when you watch the dressage horses perform in the Games it may enter your mind that in this sport the word has been interpreted to its limits.
Much like ballroom dancing or the Olympic sport of ice dancing, horse and rider perform movements of extreme grace, power and intricacy, all the while giving the impression of moving effortlessly together as one. A rider leads the horse through the program using, in essence, the same language of touch with which a gentleman leads a lady through a waltz. The complicated and demanding program the Grand Prix horse has to perform takes an average of six years to teach a horse, and several more years to perfect.
While you watch the horses and riders perform together in the Olympic arena, keep in mind the years that it takes to create this partnership between man and horse. Consider all the possible hurdles a pair faces, such as the health of both partners, the struggle to get from one level of performance to the next and the sense of timing, which is particularly delicate in the short lifespan of a horse. To train a dressage horse to Grand Prix is a commitment some riders take almost as seriously as a marriage vow. Likened to marriage, dressage, at its very best, is "a common purpose, a twofold bond, two hearts and one mind."
This is an official publication of The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publications Department.
Written by Jennifer Knight. Special thanks to Anne Gribbons.
| Pin trading was one of the most popular Olympic sports, with more than 1.2 million pins changing hands during the Games in the Coca Cola Pin Trading Center at Centennial Olympic Park. |