Rio 2016 Olympics: Know your sport — Equestrian

Equestrian sports featured on the Olympic programme of the Paris 1900 Games with jumping events.

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The specific categories for Equestrian eventing are: Individual Mixed and Team Mixed. (Source: Reuters)

The 28th edition of the modern Olympic Games will be held in Rio de Janereio from August 5 to 21. Since it first began in Athens in 1896, the Games have seen exponential growth with rise in the number of participating nations and number of athletes. The Games are being hosted in a South American city for the first time. The 2016 Games will see players competing in 41 disciplines from 28 sports. A total of 306 medals are on stake and more than 10, 500 players are participating. The sports at the Games vary from water to track and field and filed events. Each game has a different set of rules and different ways to win a medal. We bring to you a breakdown of each sport.

The only Olympic sport in which both men and women compete against each other. Equestrian has three disciplines: eventing, dressage and jumping, all of them with individual and team competitors. Although the actual purpose of the sport was to have a competition between the army officers along with their horses. In layman language word equestrian is a reference to horse riding. Sport is governed by the rules of the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI).

History: Equestrian sports featured on the Olympic programme of the Paris 1900 Games with jumping events. However the sport was included until the Stockholm 1912 Games. Since then, the sport has been on the Olympic programme.

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Since 1952 Helsinki Olympics, women have been participating with men in the mixed events. Helena du Pont – first woman to participate in equestrian was from the United States at the 1964 Tokyo Games.

Scoring Format: Jumping: In the jumping competition, rider-horse combinations accrue penalty points, or faults during a timed round. The rider-horse combination with the least faults win.
Dressage: Five judges evaluate all of the riders’ and horses’ movements and certain transitions on a zero to 10-point scale. If the rider makes three errors he/she is being eliminated.
Eventing: On the basis of four overall qualities, judges test and give points based on required movements. Winner is the one with the lowest penalty marks after tallying the final scores (Team: three highest-placed riders)

Categories The specific categories for Equestrian eventing are: Individual Mixed and Team Mixed

TOP MEDALISTS:

MEN: Reiner Klimke (GER)- 6G 2B; Hans Günther (GER)- 5G,1S,1B ; John Michael Plumb (USA)-2G.4S

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WOMEN: Anky van Grunsven (NED)- 3G.5S,1B; Isabell Werth (GER) 5G,3S; Lisetott Linsenhoff (GER) 2G,2S,1B