It’s 387 days until the 2012 Olympics kick off in London – and I am officially pumped. The hey-day of my blogging experience began with my 2008 Olympics coverage and the tens of thousands of equine enthusiasts around the world who connected at Regarding Horses with our shared love. It continued with a once-in-a-lifetime experience with the World Equestrian Games practically in my backyard. And now it’s finally time to start talking Olympics again. I hope you’re reading for the ride!
Planning is in full swing with “London Prepares” as the various committees start running test events to try out the Olympic venues. Today, the first equestrian phase in London Prepares wrapped up with Piggy French of Great Britain winning the Three-Day Event.
Held in the legendary Greenwich Park, a temporary arena with seating for 2,000 (which will be vastly expanded for the actual Olympics) and a full cross country course in the east side of the Park were set up for the competition. 39 riders participated.
John from Eventing Nation gets to do everything cool, and was on the scene for the London Prepares eventing test event. Here’s a great video from Eventing Nation showing the 26-fence cross country course through Greenwich Park:
As much as I loved WEG set in the gorgeous rolling hills of Kentucky, I think it’s super cool to see the city in the background.
I’ll be posting plenty more about the 2012 Olympic equestrian disciplines of dressage, show jumping, and eventing and the US riders and horses throughout the year. Wanna start getting pumped up with me? Revisit these old posts from the 2008 Olympics to get an idea of how the various equestrian competitions work and are scored. There will be some slight variations from Hong Kong, but it will give you the general idea!
Equestrian Disciplines at the 2008 Olympics
Brief overviews of the equestrian sports included in the summer Olympics: dressage, eventing, and show jumping.
How Olympic Dressage Works: Format and rules for Olympic dressage competition, including differences from FEI World Championships.
How Olympic Show Jumping Works: Format and rules for Olympic show jumping competition.
How Olympic Eventing Works: Format and rules for Olympic eventing and the three phases – dressage, cross-country, and show jumping.
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