The Hong Kong Jockey Club

The Event of the Century for Hong Kong

Hong Kong Olympic Equestrian Events Competition Schedule

Olympic equestrian sports, which are coming to Hong Kong in August 2008, are unique as the only Olympic sport in which humans and animals work as a team.

The Olympic equestrian events are made up of three totally separate disciplines - Dressage, Jumping and Eventing. There are team and individual competitions in all three, with a total of six gold medals to be won.

Dressage

Dressage is like equine ballet, with the best horses almost literally dancing! Dressage is performed in a much smaller competition arena than Jumping and there are no fences involved. Horse and rider have to perform a series of set movements inside a 60 x 20 metre arena and the object is to make it look as though the horse is executing the movements of its own accord.

The horse will be required to walk, trot and canter and there are other more complex movements in which the horse moves sideways, goes round in very small circles and even skips. The best ones really do look like they are dancing.

There are three separate competitions - the Grand Prix, which decides the team medals and which is run over two separate days; the Grand Prix Special, which is equivalent to the individual semi-final, and the freestyle to music, which is choreographed by each rider. This is the final decider for the individual medals.

Each competition is marked by five judges, who give marks for every movement performed and decide, independently, which performance they like best.

Jumping

Jumping is the most easily understood equestrian discipline at the Olympics. Horse and rider are required to jump a course of movable fences without knocking any rails - or landing in the water jump. Faults will be picked up for every fence knocked and for the first time a horse refuses to jump a fence. If the horse stops a second time it will be eliminated. A horse or rider fall also results in elimination. Time faults will be added if the horse does not complete the course in the time allowed.

The Olympic jumping starts with the first qualifier, with all those producing clear rounds in this one-round class sharing the early lead. Then there is a two-round competition jumped on two consecutive evenings to decide the team medals. The 10 best teams from the first round go through to the second night, with gold going to the country with the lowest number of faults.

The top individuals then have to battle it out over another two rounds of increasingly testing jumping to decide who will be declared Olympic champion.

Eventing

The Eventing competition combines both the Dressage and Jumping disciplines and adds a third - a Cross-Country test featuring natural obstacles. Competitors must ride the same horse throughout all three phases.

The Dressage used for Eventing is less complex than pure Dressage, but is still judged on harmony and obedience. The Dressage is run over two consecutive days, followed by the Cross-Country. The cross-country course at Beas River is made up of solid fences, that will include logs, banks, water jumps, hedges, drops and slides - and all jumped at the gallop. On the final day, the horses will have to tackle a Jumping course, with the first round deciding the team medals and the final round the individual title.

Venues

For the 2008 Olympic equestrian events in Hong Kong, the Dressage and Jumping competitions will take place in a purpose-built main competition arena at the Hong Kong Sports Institute, Sha Tin, which will have a seating capacity of about 18,000.

The Dressage and Jumping sections of the three-day event will also be held in the main competition arena at Sha Tin, while the Cross-Country will take place at the Hong Kong Golf Club and the adjacent Beas River Country Club in Sheung Shui.