FEI Dressage Committee Unveils A Plan For More Medals

Dressage

FEI Dressage News

"There was considerable surprise at the CDIO Aachen (Germany) when the FEI Dressage Committee announced at a meeting of show organizers that they had a new plan for distributing medals at championships, including the Olympics," reported the Chronicle of the Horse.

Mariette Withages, the committee's chairman, said the committee had fully approved the plan and would present it either to the FEI Bureau for passage this fall or next spring at the FEI General Assembly. But many, including the leaders of the German federation, said that they'd heard discussion of a new plan but didn't think it was about to happen.

In all championships since the 1995 European Championships, the top 25 riders from the Grand Prix (which determines the team medals) have qualified for the Grand Prix Special. Then the top 15 then have gone forward to the freestyle, after which the three tests together have determined the individual medals. This system had seemed to please most since it prevented the two compulsory tests from being overshadowed by the glitzy freestyle.

But the new plan is for the top 30 riders from the Grand Prix to qualify for the Special, although their Grand Prix score won't carry forward. Instead, riders will get medals for their Special score. And then the top 15 will move on to the freestyle, but the scores from the previous two tests won't count here either. The riders will get medals based solely on their freestyle performances, just as in the FEI World Cup Final.

This system would also apply to the young rider and junior championships, and it could go into effect as soon as the 2007 European Championships. "It's good for the sport to have as many medals as possible, just like swimming or running," Withages told the Chronicle. "The three medals is not a new idea. It's been up for discussion with the FEI Dressage Committee and it still needs approcal of the Bureau and Executive Board," she added to Eurodressage. "The new system can only instated at the next European Championships depending on the final decision of the bureau."

But Reinhardt Wendt, the German federation's sports manager, was surprised by the Aachen announcement. "This is news to me that the plans are so advanced already. And, I consider it quite surprising, especially with the background of the current discussion about training methods and the maintenance of classical educational methods and the classical way, a system that is certainly not supported by the freestyle test," said Wendt.

"We had long discussions about the right system before the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, where for the first time in Olympic Games the percentages of all three tests counted together for the awarding of the individual medals," he added. "Counting the three tests together guarantees that the freestyle doesn't have a too big impact on the individual medals. If now a new system for the awarding of the individual medals is planned, an intensive discussion must take place first."

Eurodressage agrees with Wendt's opinion. Though the sport continuously has to look for better ways of promoting itself to a broader audience, it must not trade in quality for publicity. The new medal system would no longer reward the combination who is the most consistent over three tests; the combination who nears perfection both technically as well as artistically. Furthermore, the more medals, the more confusing it will be. Who is the real Champion? The one who can perfectly ride to music, or the one who can present a correctly classically school horse that makes the least mistakes in his movements? An extensive debate is a priority before the FEI makes a final decision.