EQUESTRIANS FROM 41 NATIONS QUALIFY FOR LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES; Australia Qualifies to Field a Team in Eventing

The Olympic Rings passed under London’s Tower Bridge on a barge last week. Photo by Andrew Whiting.

Exactly one month ago, The Jurga Report updated you on the sweat pouring from brows Down Under as Australia struggled with the wait to learn if the eventing-centric nation would be sending a team to London this summer for the London 2012 Olympic Games. Today we learned who will be sending teams and/or individual riders to London in all three equestrian disciplines. And yes! Australia will send a team! And Ireland and The Netherlands will too!

The reason for the tension in this announcement was that these three nations qualified multiple individuals who will make up what is called “composite” teams of eventers, while other nations qualified as “normal” teams.

The big news is the announcement of the equestrian super-powers for the 2012 Olympics: Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the USA will field full teams in all three disciplines.

Note: not all the numbers add up, if you do the math, but this is what was provided by the FEI.

Received today via official press release from the FEI:

Riders from 41 nations have qualified to compete in the equestrian events at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The FEI Olympic Athletes Rankings in Jumping, Dressage, and Eventing are published today (2 March). They are the final stage of the qualification by nation process, which concluded yesterday (1 March).

Azerbaijan, Ireland, Portugal, and Russia qualified through the FEI Olympic Athletes Rankings in Jumping bringing the total number of nations represented by individual riders to 11. Argentina, Colombia, Ireland, and Japan will be represented by two riders each whereas Azerbaijan, Bermuda, Egypt, Jordan, Portugal, Russia, and Syria will be entering one individual each. Fifteen countries will be represented by teams.

In Dressage, 11 nations will be fielding full teams of three riders. Thirteen countries will be represented only by individual riders, who qualified through the FEI Olympic Athletes Rankings. These nations are Antigua, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Finland, France, Italy, Japan, Morocco, Norway, Poland, Portugal, and Ukraine. This brings the total number of countries that will compete in the Olympic Dressage competitions to 24. Germany, host nation Great Britain, and the Netherlands will each be entering four riders- a team of three and one individual qualified through the Rankings – which is the maximum number allowed in Dressage.

Riders from 11 nations qualified through the FEI Olympic Athletes Rankings in Eventing. These nations are Australia, Austria, Belarus, Ecuador, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, the Netherlands, Russia, South Africa, and Thailand. Since Australia qualified five riders through the Rankings and Ireland and the Netherlands qualified three riders each, these three nations will have composite teams which brings the total number of teams that will compete in Eventing to 14.

Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the USA will field full teams in all three disciplines.

Summary by discipline:

JUMPING

(The FEI Olympic Athletes Rankings – Jumping are available at this?link. The finalized qualification system for Jumping is available?here.)

26 nations: ARG, AUS, AZE, BEL, BER, BRA, CAN, CHI, COL, EGY, FRA, GBR, GER, IRL, JOR, JPN, KSA, MEX, NED, POR, RUS, SUI, SWE, SYR, UKR, USA

15 teams: GBR, GER, FRA, BEL, BRA, CAN, NED, SWE, SUI, USA, MEX, CHI, KSA, AUS, UKR

11 nations represented by individuals only: ARG, AZE, BER, COL, EGY, IRL, JOR, JPN, POR, RUS, SYR
Total: 75 riders

DRESSAGE

(The FEI Olympic Athletes Rankings – Dressage are available at this?link. The finalized qualification system for Dressage is available?here.)

24 nations: ANT, AUS, AUT, BEL, BRA, CAN, COL, DEN, ESP, FIN, FRA, GBR, GER, ITA, JPN, MAR, NED, NOR, NZL, POL, POR, SWE, UKR, USA

11 teams: AUS, CAN, COL, DEN, ESP, GBR, GER, NED, NZL, SWE, USA

13 nations represented by individuals only: ANT, AUT, BEL, BRA, FIN, FRA, ITA, JPN, MAR, NOR, POL, POR, UKR

3 nations: represented by a team and one individual: GBR, GER, NED

Total: 50 riders

EVENTING

(The FEI Olympic Athletes Rankings – Eventing are available at this?link. The finalised qualification system for Eventing is available?here.)

22 nations: ARG, AUS, AUT, BEL, BLR, BRA, CAN, ECU, FRA, GBR, GER, IRL, ITA, JAM, JPN, NED, NZL, RSA, RUS, SWE, THA, USA
14 teams: ARG, AUS, BEL, BRA, CAN, FRA, GBR, GER, IRL, JPN, NED, NZL, SWE, USA
8 nations represented by individuals only: AUT, BLR, ECU, ITA, JAM, RUS, RSA, THA
Total: 75 riders

TOTAL ALL DISCIPLINES – 41 nations:

ANT, ARG, AUS, AUT, AZE, BEL, BER, BLR, BRA, CAN, CHI, COL, DEN, ECU, EGY, ESP, FIN, FRA, GBR, GER, IRL, ITA, JAM, JOR, JPN, KSA, MAR, MEX, NED, NOR, NZL, POL, POR, RSA, RUS, SUI, SWE, SYR, THA, UKR, USA

TOTAL 200 riders

Thanks to the FEI for providing this information in such a succinct format. We’ll be referring to this information often; you can also download the entire list via the link at the top of the press release.

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