Following a thorough investigation into results from the three-star Dressage event at Lier (BEL), the FEI has found evidence of nationalistic judging in favour of a Ukrainian athlete, Inna Logutenkova, by two Ukrainian judges in the Grand Prix Special test on 2 March 2016.
As a result, the FEI Dressage Committee, with the full support of the FEI Executive Board, has ruled that the results from the CDI3* Grand Prix Special will not count towards the Olympic and World Rankings.
In addition, the FEI Executive Board has agreed that it will recommend to the FEI Bureau support of the Dressage Committee in reviewing the judging by establishing a working group composed of Committee members and external experts who will look into and supply proposals to address these matters.
“This was a clear example of nationalistic judging and the FEI takes this very seriously”, FEI Secretary General Sabrina Ibáñez said. “The FEI has a duty to take the appropriate measures if it is shown that nationalistic judging has occurred. Judging at all FEI events must be absolutely fair and the integrity of the competitions and of the judges themselves must be beyond reproach.”
As a result of the removal of the Lier Grand Prix Special results, the final allocation of quota places for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games has now been completed.
This means that Inna Logutenkova still captured the Olympic individual slot for her country Ukraine with Don Gregorius, but her Olympic Ranking score with her second ride Fleraro dropped considerably.
FEI Secretary-General Ibanez also noted "that the effect of the FEI Dressage Committee Decision on the FEI Olympic Rankings – Dressage is that the remaining quota place for individual Athletes for Rio 2016 shall be allocated to the Ukrainian National Olympic Committee, by virtue of Inna Logutenkova finishing in 6th place in the FEI Olympic Athletes Rankings - Dressage (overall ranking). The final rankings shall be published on the FEI website later today, 22 March 2016.”
Logutenkova's legal team told Eurodressage today that they have received "a letter sent by the FEI Secretary General confirming that their client Mrs Logutenkova representing Ukraine will compete at the Olympic Games 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. With this confirmation the FEI positively answered to the Ukrainian NF and Inna's requests that were put forward by her aforementioned lawyers."
This is the first time in recent history that the FEI has openly admitted to nationalistic judging taking place in its own system.
Photo © Astrid Appels
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