Marco Fusté (ESP), one of the best known figures on the international Jumping circuit, has been appointed as Jumping Director for the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI), the global governing body for equestrian sports.

Mr Fusté has been Director of Jumping at the Spanish Equestrian Federation and chef d’equipe of the Spanish Jumping team since 2006. He will take up the new role at the FEI on 1 February 2021 and his first task will be a full revision of the FEI Jumping Rules. He replaces interim Jumping Director Deborah Riplinger, who will remain at FEI Headquarters until the end of June next year to ensure an optimal handover.

“To be appointed as FEI director jumping Director is absolutely my dream job,” Marco Fusté said. “Horses and equestrian sport, particularly Jumping, have been a part of my life for so long and I see this new role as the pinnacle of my career. Jumping is already the FEI’s largest discipline and, while I know the challenges involved, I also see great opportunity for further expansion, particularly in South America, so that we can develop the sport more broadly. I can’t wait to get started.”

His lifelong love of horses was cemented at the age of seven when his grandfather took him to a riding school right in the middle of Barcelona. He went on to compete on the Spanish national Jumping circuit, prior to studying law at the University of Barcelona Law School.

He served as a member of the FEI Jumping Committee from 2011 to 2015, and a member of the European Equestrian Federation (EEF) Jumping and Nations Cup working groups. He also worked at both the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games and the FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2002 in Jerez (ESP). He is a recipient of the Gold Medal of the Real Federación Hípica Española, the Federation’s highest distinction.

His initial entry into the workplace came in 1986, when he started as Event Manager at the Spanish sports events company Organización y Gestión Deportiva S.A, before a nine-year stint with the World League of American Football, NFL Europe and NFL Europe League. He then switched codes to become General Manager at the Royal Spanish Tennis Federation, with Spain scoring its first Davis Cup victory during his tenure. In 2001 he set up Barcelona Sports Consulting, a specialist company organising horse shows and working directly with Organising Committees, before moving to his current role at the Spanish National Federation.

“Marco Fusté is tailor-made for the role of Jumping Director at the FEI,” FEI Secretary General Sabrina Ibáñez said. “He has valuable expertise in the sports world outside the specialist equestrian sphere, and has been involved in our sport from every angle, as an athlete, event organiser and chef d’equipe. He also has hands-on governance experience at the National Federation and at international level as a member of the FEI Jumping Committee. He has encyclopaedic knowledge of the Jumping discipline and is respected and admired by everyone within the sport. We are very much looking forward to welcoming him to Headquarters in February.”

The FEI announced the appointment of Christina Abu-Dayyeh (JOR) as Endurance Director last week (16 December). Recruitment for both positions was done in partnership with British-based agency Hartmann Mason Executive Search.

Marco Fusté (ESP), who will start in his new role as FEI Jumping Director on 1 February 2021, pictured after leading the Spanish team to victory in the Longines Challenge Cup at last year's Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup™ Final in Barcelona. (FEI/Lukasz Kowalski).

It’s probably not that surprising that David O’Connor’s career thrived throughout the era of long-format Eventing, because if you’ve crossed the vast expanse of North America on horseback when you’re just 11 years old then going the distance is unlikely to be daunting at any stage of your life. 

The 2000 Olympic Eventing champion retired from international competition in 2004, served as President of the United Stated Equestrian Federation (USEF) for the next eight years and was inducted into the United States Eventing Association’s Hall of Fame in 2009. He now trains young horses, coaches riders and designs courses, and he sees it all as a natural progression. “I’m in this game 45 years, and as time goes on you move on to the next level. For me that’s the training side of the sport, and I really enjoy it a lot”, says the man who became Chair of the FEI Eventing Committee three years ago.

He’s travelling to a show the day I call him up to ask him about his life and times. So how did he get started with horses? Did his family have a generational connection with them? 

“No, my mum was brought up in suburban London (GBR) and she rode a bit, but it was only when she came to the US that she really got into it. My father wasn’t horsey at all, he worked in the Navy, but my brother Brian and I went to the local Pony Club when we were kids and that’s how it all began”, he explains. Mum, Sally O’Connor, would go on to become a Dressage rider, judge and author while Brian’s voice is one of the most recognisable on the US equestrian commentary circuit. David, meanwhile, became a superstar Eventing athlete, greatly admired for the long and successful partnerships he established with a superb string of horses.  

Ambitions

He says he didn’t have big ambitions as a child. “We weren’t wealthy so I never thought horses would be my life”, he explains. But when he was 17 years old fate intervened. Spotted by legendary coach Jack Le Goff, he joined training sessions for development riders staged at the USEF Training Centre in Massachusetts (USA) and was invited to stay on. “It was an amazing opportunity, a door that opened for me and I kinda ran through it as fast as I could!”, David says. “I was there for four-and-a-half years, and without that opportunity I’m really not sure where my life would have gone”.

His teenage heroes included Jimmy Wofford, Mike Plumb “and Bruce (Davidson) who was dominating the sport across the world at the time”. David has maintained a lifetime connection with Jimmy, who he describes as a mentor and great friend. Like Jimmy, David’s career almost completely embraced the long-format era of Eventing which was very different to the scaled-back test horses and riders face today.

The old three-day formula consisted of Dressage on day 1 followed by Roads and Tracks, Steeplechase, more Roads and Tracks and then Cross-Country on day 2, with showjumping on the third and final day.

“I was the last long-format winner at the Olympic Games (Sydney 2000) and World Championships (Jerez 2002) and I experienced the change to the modern-day sport”, he points out. “It’s certainly different doing a 13-minute course back then and an 11-minute course now. Today the intensity is higher, so horses can get out of breath quite quickly if you don’t manage your speed. Back then we managed galloping all the time, the horses were very fit, more thoroughbred types. There are horses that are not as thoroughbred that can do quite well in a 4-Star today but they can’t manage a 5-Star. Now it’s all about turning and accuracy and having horses jump narrow fences….the rideability is more important than the athletic ability, whereas the athletic ability was more important back then. And there’s a huge difference between showjumping after cross-country and showjumping before”, he adds.

Brilliant horses

David had many brilliant horses, the best-remembered possibly his Olympic rides Giltedge and Custom Made. At the 1996 Games in Atlanta he rode Giltedge to team silver and Custom Made to individual fifth place, and four years later Custom Made claimed individual gold in Sydney (AUS) while Giltedge was on the bronze-medal-winning US side.

So how would these two special Irish-bred horses cope with the challenges of the modern sport?

“Giltedge would be just as successful now as he was back then because he was extremely rideable and a very good showjumper, in fact he would have an even better career now because he would have been totally in the game! Custom Made would still be a big 5-Star horse, he would revel in it just like he did because his big wins were all over galloping courses like Badminton, Kentucky, the Sydney Olympics, but probably not so much at Olympic Games and World Championships because the courses are getting shorter and more twisting and turning and that wouldn’t play to his strengths.

“One of the great things about these two, and many of our other horses like Biko and Prince Panache, was that they stayed sound and played the game for so long. They were Irish-bred and we can’t afford to lose the genetic advantages that the Irish bloodlines bring, like longevity and athleticism, which maybe some of the other countries don’t have”, he says. 

When it comes to longevity, Custom Made was a perfect example, only passing away last year at the ripe old age of 34. 

Prepare

So how did he prepare horses like these two all-time greats? “With a lot of long, slow work three or four months away from the event to put a base on them, and faster work closer to the competition”, he explains. The long, slow work was exactly that. “Sometimes you’d spend two hours on them riding up and down hills, trotting, slow cantering and walking. Some of the kids coming up now don’t want to put that work in”, he points out. 

And did the horses have similar personalities? “No, Custom Made (aka Tailor) had tremendous strength and scope and the most unbelievable gallop. He never got tired in his life and was an incredible athlete but he was quite sensitive about a lot of things and when he got nervous he got very strong.

“But I never had a horse try as hard as Giltedge, he always rose to the occasion. There was this super-power thing that happened at a competition, he would turn into a horse that fought for you more than any other horse I’ve had in my life. That’s why he became such a great team horse for the US. I only ever had one rail down in showjumping with him and he was always going to be in the top 10 - he was one of those troopers you could always rely on”, David says proudly.

He relishes the relationships he had with both horses. “At the beginning of their careers I felt they were part of my career but towards the end of their competitive cycle it was me who was part of theirs! I just had to do my job and let them get on with theirs. When they retired we gave demonstrations and they became even more famous. They had a huge fan-club, people just loved them, and not many horses get that because there are not a lot of really famous horses around anymore - I think their longevity had a lot to do with that”, he comments.

Family ride

When I ask him about the family ride across the United States of America I can tell that there’s a determined streak in the O’Connor gene pool. He recalls a family dinner during which his mother announced her plan. “She had this romantic image of the US as the Wild West….John Wayne and all that. We lived in Maryland on the East Coast and she came up with the idea that we should ride to California on the West Coast, and the more people said it couldn’t happen the more she was determined it would. It was an amazing decision for her to make!”, David says with a laugh.

So on 13th May 1973 they set off on the 3,000 mile trip that took 14 weeks to complete. “I was 11, Brian was 13 and it was just the three of us. We ended up going to Oregon instead of California because otherwise we would have had to cross the desert, and we didn’t quite make it to the west coast because Brian and I had to go back to school at the end of August”, David says. Brian’s horse did the full distance while David and Sally both needed remounts en route, turning the original two out to rest until they were collected on the way home. 

“My mother knew people across the first-half of the country and we stayed with them about every 10 days and gave the horses a couple of days off each time. But we didn’t know anybody beyond the Mississippi River so we just knocked on people’s doors when we got to the end of the day, explained what we were doing and everyone East of the river said “you’re going WHERE?!!” and everybody West said “you’re from WHERE?!!” We were doing 30-35 miles a day and local newspapers started following us. 

“It was an amazing trip for an 11-year-old kid and taught me a lot about spending time with horses and appreciation of the land and how people make a living. And it gave me a sense of time, not control over time but how to enjoy being in the moment, and that has always stayed with me. It was 47 years ago, and I still think about it often”, David says, clearly enjoying the memories.

Bitless

I ask David about riding without a bit in the horse’s mouth. He’s quite an advocate for bitless riding, but he points out that it has its limitations when it comes to competition.

“We start all of our young horses in rope halters without a bit, and when we are going on a quiet hack most are in just a halter, and we practice this a lot. They learn to go, stop, turn, rein-back and all that, so when we put a bit in their mouth there is no anxiety about it.

“But there’s a huge difference when you are out on a course for 8 to 10 minutes galloping at a speed of 570 metres a minute. You can’t compare riding in a ring or quietly hacking with the need for the horse to be able to answer cross-country questions - they are two totally different things. From a risk-management point of view there is no way I would ever go cross-country for miles without having a bit”, he says.

Admired

I ask him about the people he most admired during his time at the top of the sport and the first person he mentions is, unsurprisingly, New Zealand’s Mark Todd - “a great horseman and a good friend”. 

He describes the period when he and his wife and fellow-Olympian, Karen O’Connor, lived in England as “magical. In the 90s we were part of a group of riders including Mary King (GBR) and Blythe Tait (NZL) who were all there at the same time competing against each other and who became the best of friends. It drove us all to be better, there were 15 players at the top of the world sport all living near each other and it was a very special time”, he recalls. 

So why didn’t he and Karen stay in Great Britain? “We had the opportunity to ride for Mrs Mars who became a big supporter of ours. She bought a place in Virginia and asked us to come back and run a High Performance Programme out of there. But if that opportunity hadn’t come our way we might have stayed - who knows!”, he says.

Wisdom

Finally I ask David to share some wisdom with the next generation of young Event athletes. “The main thing is to have a goal that’s way out in front of you and to work hard to get there. Surround yourself with the best people you can find and learn your craft to the nth degree. 

“As Mark Twain wrote ‘it’s very easy to learn the tricks of the trade and never learn the trade’. You need to learn every aspect of the trade and that includes the people part, the horse part, the riding part, the competitive part and the management part. You don’t become a winner because you’re talented and you deserve it….you have to be driven and you need to be hungry if you want to succeed.

“And one of the things I tell all my students is that when you get an opportunity (like David did when spotted by Jack Le Goff) then grab it with both hands!”.

The FEI Tribunal has issued its Final Decisions in a number of equine and human anti-doping cases.

The first case involves an adverse analytical finding for the prohibited substance Furosemide, a diuretic listed in Class S5, Diuretics and Masking Agents, in the 2019 World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List.

A sample taken from the Finnish athlete Jaana Kivimäki (FEI ID 10046626/FIN) on 1 October 2019 during the CPEDI3* Lisbon (POR) returned positive for Furosemide. The athlete was notified of the violation of the FEI’s Anti-Doping Rules for Human Athletes (ADRHA) on 2 December 2019. She was not provisionally suspended, as the substance in the Athlete’s Sample is a Specified Substance.

In its Final Decision, the FEI Tribunal approved the agreement reached between the Athlete and the FEI in which it was stated that the athlete bears no significant fault or negligence for the rule violation. The athlete had been prescribed Furosemide by her doctor, but due to lack of anti-doping education was unaware that she needed to apply for a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) prior to competing internationally.  

The athlete is suspended for a period of two months, starting from the date of the FEI Tribunal Final Decision (7 December 2020).

Additionally, the athlete has been disqualified from all results obtained at the event and fined CHF 500.

The parties can appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) within 21 days of receipt of the decision.

The full text of the FEI Tribunal’s Final Decision is available here.

The second case involves the horse Victotop Occitan (FEI ID 105EV49/UAE), trained by Ghanim Mohd Al Marri (FEI ID 10048641/UAE). Samples taken from the horse at the CEI2* 120 – Bou Thib (UAE) on 13 December 2019 tested positive for the Banned Substance Testosterone.

The trainer of the horse was unable to give any plausible explanation for the presence of the Prohibited Substance in the horse’s sample.

In its Final Decision, the FEI Tribunal imposed a two-year Period of Ineligibility on the trainer. The Provisional Suspension, which came into effect on 20 February 2020, is credited against the Period of Ineligibility imposed in the decision, meaning the trainer will be ineligible until 19 February 2022. He was also fined CHF 7,500 and asked to pay costs of CHF 2,000.

The parties can appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) within 21 days of receipt of the decision (15 December 2020).
The full text of the FEI Tribunal’s Final Decision is available here.

Separately, the FEI has announced new adverse analytical findings (AAF) involving equine prohibited substances. The cases involve *Banned Substance and a Controlled Medication Substance under the FEI’s Equine Anti-Doping and Controlled Medication Regulations (EADCMRs).

In the following Endurance case, the athlete and the trainer have been provisionally suspended until the FEI Tribunal renders its decision. The horse has been provisionally suspended for two months from the date of notification.

Case 2020/BS12:
Horse: GER ASHIR (103UH98/KSA)
Person Responsible: Odai Alqurashi (FEI ID 10203848/KSA)
Trainer: Munir Alfaqeih (FEI ID 10062545/KSA)
Event: CEI1*100 - Riyadh (KSA), 06-07.11.2020
Prohibited Substance(s): Diisopropylamine
Date of notification: 9 December 2020

In the following Jumping case, the athlete has been provisionally suspended until the FEI Tribunal renders its decision. The horse has been provisionally suspended for two months from the date of notification.

* Case 2020/BS13
Horse: YAYA (105CF05/KSA)
Person Responsible: Abdulrahman Alrajhi (FEI ID 10048311/KSA)
Event: CSI3*-W - Riyadh (KSA), 18-21.11.2020
Prohibited Substance(s): Diisopropylamine
Date of notification: 14 December 2020

In the following Endurance case, involving the Controlled Medication Substance Lidocaine, the trainer has been provisionally suspended until the FEI Tribunal renders its decision as this is a second violation of the ECM Regulations. The athlete, however, is not suspended and has the possibility to accept the administrative procedure within 14 days of the date of notification.

** Case 2020/FT23:
Horse: GARIF (106RE57/RUS)
Person Responsible: Ekaterina Vasilyeva (FEI ID 10153650/RUS)
Trainer: Mukhamed Kalov (FEI ID 10058061/RUS)
Event: CEI2*120 - Moscow, Otrada (RUS), 24-26.09.2020
Prohibited Substance(s): Lidocaine
Date of notification: 15 December 2020

Details on these cases can be found here.

* Following further review, and in accordance with Article 7.1.3 (ii) of the EAD Rules, the FEI has decided that there is no EAD Rule violation, and will not proceed with this case.

** The Russian National Federation has confirmed to the FEI that Mukhamed Kalov was incorrectly listed as the trainer of the horse Garif due to an administrative error. Following further investigation, the FEI has confirmed that Mr Kalov had no link whatsoever with the horse and, as a result, the provisional suspension imposed on the trainer has now been lifted.

Notes to Editors:
FEI Clean Sport - human athletes
The FEI is part of the collaborative worldwide movement for doping-free sport led by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). The aim of this movement is to protect fair competition as well as athlete health and welfare.
WADA’s Prohibited List identifies the substances and methods prohibited in- and out-of-competition, and in particular sports. The substances and methods on the List are classified by different categories (e.g., steroids, stimulants, gene doping).
As a WADA Code Signatory, the FEI runs a testing programme for human athletes based on WADA’s List of Prohibited List of Substances and Methods and on the Code-compliant FEI Anti-Doping Rules for Human Athletes (ADRHA).

For further information, please consult the Clean Sport section of the FEI website here.

FEI Equine Prohibited Substances
The FEI Prohibited Substances List is divided into two sections: Controlled Medication and *Banned Substances. Controlled Medication substances are medications that are regularly used to treat horses, but which must have been cleared from the horse’s system by the time of competition. Banned (doping) Substances should never be found in the body of the horse and are prohibited at all times.

In the case of an adverse analytical finding (AAF) for a Banned Substance, the Person Responsible (PR) is automatically provisionally suspended from the date of notification (with the exception of certain cases involving a Prohibited Substance which is also a **Specified Substance). The horse is provisionally suspended for two months.

Information on all substances is available on the searchable FEI Equine Prohibited Substances Database.

The FEI Board took a series of key decisions on allocation, cancellation, and reopening of bids for FEI Championships at its videoconference meeting this week.

The Board agreed to allocate the FEI Endurance World Championship 2022 to Isola della Scala in Verona (ITA). 

“We are pleased to have the experience and passion of the Verona Organising Committee for the FEI Endurance World Championship in 2022,” FEI Secretary General Sabrina Ibáñez said. “We will be working closely with the Organisers and the Italian Equestrian Federation to ensure that this is a top-notch sporting event that challenges the strategic skills of our athletes and brings the sport back to its original roots of Endurance riding rather than Endurance racing.”    

Separately, the Board agreed to reopen the bid process for the FEI Eventing European Championship 2021, following numerous requests from a number of European Eventing stakeholders, including National Federations and Athletes, and with the full support of the European Equestrian Federation and the FEI Eventing Committee. The bid process will open on 18 December 2020 and National Federations and Organisers have until 15 January 2021 to apply to the FEI. The FEI Board will take a decision on the allocation of this Championship at its March 2021 teleconference.

Following the cancellation by the Organiser of the FEI Dressage European Championship U25 2021 in Donaueschingen (GER), the Board agreed to reopen the bidding process for the Championship. The deadline for expressions of interest to be submitted to the FEI (bidding@fei.org) is 15 January 2021 and the FEI Board will take a decision on the allocation of this Championship at its February 2021 teleconference.

Due to the Covid-19 related cancellation of the FEI WBFSH Dressage World Breeding Championship for Young Horses 2020 in Verden (GER), and following consultation with all parties involved, the Board agreed to reallocate the 2021 Championship to Verden. The 2021 Championship had originally been allocated to Ermelo (NED) for the three-year cycle, 2021-2023. The Board has now agreed to allocate the 2024 Championship to Ermelo, meaning that the Dutch venue will host the Championships in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

Based on the recommendation of the FEI Endurance Committee, and in consultation and with the support of the Netherlands National Federation, the Board agreed to terminate the Host Agreement with the Organiser of the FEI Endurance European Championship 2021 and FEI Endurance World Championship for Young Riders & Juniors 2021.

Both these Endurance Championships were scheduled to be held at the Netherlands National Federation-owned venue at Ermelo (NED), and the FEI will now consult with the National Federation about a potential alternative Organiser to host the Championships at the Ermelo venue on the original dates (6-11 September 2021).

Christina Abu-Dayyeh (JOR) has been appointed as Endurance Director for the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI), the global governing body for equestrian sports.

Ms Abu-Dayyeh, 31, has been Secretary General of the Royal Jordanian Equestrian Federation since 2017 and will start in her new role at the FEI on 1 April 2021. Her arrival in Lausanne (SUI) will further improve the gender balance in the FEI management team, with seven females and eight males.

During her time at the Jordanian National Federation, Ms Abu-Dayyeh was responsible for the management of all equestrian disciplines in the country, as well as heading up the Organising Committees for the biggest equestrian events in Jordan across all disciplines. She also worked directly with the Ministry of Agriculture on all equestrian matters, including quarantine procedures, animal welfare and the import/export of horses.

Prior to taking on the role at the National Federation, she worked as a marketing and communications consultant at the Princess Alia Foundation, and Al Ma’wa for Nature and Wildlife in the Jordanian capital, Amman, the only wildlife sanctuary in the Middle East. She was a research analyst at a political consulting start-up in Abu Dhabi, and also worked in consulting and recruitment roles in Vancouver (CAN).

Ms Abu-Dayyeh has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada and a Masters in Management and International Business from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

“We are very happy to welcome Christina Abu-Dayyeh to the FEI to take on this really important role”, FEI Secretary General Sabrina Ibáñez said. “The discipline of Endurance needs strong governance and we are confident that Christina is the right person to deliver the right mix of firmness and tact. She comes to us with a wealth of experience, not just in equestrian sport, but also in marketing and communications, skill sets that she will need for this post. Her knowledge of our sport in the Middle East, where Endurance is such a key part of the local culture, has given her a crucial insight and a vision that will undoubtedly benefit both the FEI and the discipline itself.”

“One of my proudest achievements at the Royal Jordanian Equestrian Federation has been creating open lines of communication and the transparency that was needed to inspire the trust of the community and stakeholders, which ultimately gave me a credible voice to move the sport forward in Jordan”, Christina Abu-Dayyeh said. “Leaning in and actively listening to those in the field who have mastered so many elements of it kept me humble.

Ms Abu-Dayyeh has strong Endurance experience, both at a national and international level, as the Jordanian National Federation is the main organiser of Endurance events in the country. She singles out Endurance as her favourite of all the disciplines that she is currently responsible for in her role as Secretary General in Jordan.

“I was aware that our Endurance Officials were having trouble fulfilling their crucial role of officiating at events and quickly realised that the main issue was miscommunication and the athletes’ lack of education on the rules. We made a huge effort to improve the knowledge base of our athletes, educating all stakeholders on the technical aspects of the sport and what it means to be a true horseperson, with the result that numbers increased by over 120% for our national rides.

“I believe that education and communication with the athletes and their entourage are key to improving horse welfare in the discipline internationally, continuing the fantastic work already done by the Endurance Temporary Committee.”

The FEI has been actively seeking a replacement Endurance Director since the announcement in March of this year that the Endurance & Driving Department was to be restructured with the aim of further streamlining management of the Endurance discipline. The restructuring was to allow for a special focus on a discipline that requires stringent oversight, although plans for the speedy recruitment of a new Endurance Director were significantly slowed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ms Abu-Dayyeh will replace Manuel Bandeira De Mello (POR), who joined the FEI in 2014 as Endurance Director. He will stay on in the role until Ms Abu-Dayyeh arrives in Switzerland and will remain at the FEI with the new title of Director Driving, Para Driving & Special Projects, allowing for an optimal handover to the new Endurance Director.

Allocation of teams to Europe Division 1 events for the Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup™ 2021 series have been confirmed this week, giving equestrian sports fans something really positive to look forward to next season following a year of significant disruption to the worldwide sporting calendar.

Europe Division 1 will start with the same 10 teams for the 2021 season – defending champions Ireland, along with Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland and Sweden.

Each team can earn qualifying points at its allocated four of the seven Europe Division 1 events. The seven best-ranked teams will qualify for the Final, which takes place in Barcelona (ESP) in October 2021. The Division 1 opening qualifier takes place in La Baule (FRA) in May 2021.

The allocations table indicates the venues where eligible teams will be chasing FEI Nations Cup™ points, but the starting field at these events will not be restricted to those countries alone.  Other nations can also compete in legs of the series throughout the Europe Division 1 season.    

Further information on the Division 1 allocations can be viewed here.

The season calendar for the Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup™ 2021 series can be viewed here.

About the Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup™ series

The Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup™ is equestrian sport's most prestigious team challenge, with teams from around the world competing for one of the most coveted prizes in the Olympic discipline.  

Celebrating 112 years of team competition in 2021, the Final will be held in the beautiful city of Barcelona (ESP), at the Real Club de Polo, where up to 18 teams will have the opportunity to battle it out to hold the prestigious Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup™ trophy aloft!

Winners in the FEI Awards 2020 five categories were revealed today, with multi-medalled young Dressage star Semmieke Rothenberger claiming the Longines FEI Rising Star Award for the second year in a row, and Eventing legend Ingrid Klimke also taking back-to-back wins as Peden Bloodstock FEI Best Athlete.

This year the task of choosing the best of the best from the past decade’s previous awards winners was entirely in the hands of the public who cast their votes for the 55 nominees from 19 nations. Over 70,000 votes were cast on FEI.org and on the Chinese social media platform WeChat. Podiums in each of the five categories were occupied by a global spread from Germany, Great Britain, Australia, China, Ireland, Palestine, South Africa, The Netherlands and Zambia.

With the FEI Awards Gala cancelled this year due to the pandemic, the winners were revealed to their online audience in a moving video narrated by British Paralympic champion Natasha Baker.

Semmieke Rothenberger, winner of the Longines FEI Rising Star Award, was overcome with emotion when her family held a surprise presentation of the award at their home in Germany.

 “I’m very grateful that so many people voted for me and that there is such a big fan base of people that support me,” Semmieke Rothenberger said. “It is also quite surreal because there were so many good athletes in this category, including my brother Sönke, so I didn’t really expect that I would win it again.”

The 21-year-old, winner of 22 FEI European Championship medals through all the youth categories right up to Young Riders, has even bigger goals for the future.

“My parents have always taught me to dream big and reach for my goals and I would really like to canter on that centre line of the Olympic Games one day. I’ve been to the Olympic Games in Rio with my brother and I would love to see myself there with one of my horses and feel the atmosphere of representing my country at the Olympics!”

Along with other individual FEI Award winners, Semmieke Rothenberger received an elegant timepiece from FEI Top Partner Longines, the Swiss watch brand which attaches great importance to encouraging young people to practice sports. 

“This Longines FEI Rising Star Award was created to recognise young athletes between the ages of 14 and 21 who demonstrate outstanding equestrian sporting talent,” Longines Vice President of Marketing Matthieu Baumgartner said. “We are delighted to once again celebrate Semmieke Rothenberger’s dedication to equestrian sport and we applaud her determination, passion and energy, which we are confident will take her to the very top in her sporting career.”

Double Olympic Eventing team gold medallist and five-time Olympian Ingrid Klimke (GER) was delighted to win a second Peden Bloodstock FEI Best Athlete Award, together with a horse transport voucher from title sponsor and Official FEI Equine Logistics Partner, Peden Bloodstock.

“This is all still a little bit unreal but I’m so thrilled and happy,” she said. The 52-year-old, who was also nominated for the Award in 2015 and 2017, going on to win in 2019, is only the second person in history to win back-to-back European titles on the same horse, claiming individual gold with SAP Hale Bob OLD at the Longines FEI Eventing European Championships in 2017 and 2019. This year she took her fifth German National Championship, having won previously in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2009, sharing the spotlight with her daughter Greta Busacker, who was crowned German National Junior Champion on the same day.

Although Ingrid Klimke has set her sights on winning her first individual gold at the Tokyo Olympic Games next year, she is not shy of stating her longer term ambitions. “I’m already thinking of Paris 2024 which is not so far away. I love to ride, I love to compete and I love to keep going.”

There was further cause for celebration at the Klimke stables when Carmen Thiemann, head groom for more than two decades, won the Cavalor FEI Best Groom Award and a voucher from title sponsor and FEI Official Nutrition Partner, Cavalor.

“It’s the trust between us and the fun we have with the horses,” Carmen Thiemann said when asked about the longevity of her professional partnership with Ingrid Klimke. “I try to make the horses happy and healthy so that they are ready to work with Ingrid.”

Carmen Thiemann, who won the FEI Best Groom Award in 2013, has a special bond with the Klimke family having started her career as a groom for Ingrid’s father Dr Reiner Klimke, an Olympic Dressage legend for Germany.

“Everyone who knows Carmen knows how valuable she is as a person and especially in her job with the horses,” a delighted Ingrid Klimke said.

“We have been successful as a team for many years and I would never go to a show or a Championship without Carmen. She is a best friend to the horses and I can totally focus on my job, either in Cross Country or in Dressage, knowing that Carmen brings them out as happy and healthy as possible.”

It is also interesting to note that the runner-ups in these two respective categories – Peden Bloodstock FEI Best Athlete and Cavalor FEI Best Groom – went to another dynamic duo: Great Britain’s superstar Charlotte Dujardin and Alan Davies, the experienced and highly respected “Super Groom” to Carl Hester’s horses, and also a key member of the FEI Grooms Working Group.

Ten years after winning their first award, the Ebony Horse Club (GBR) was once again the recipient of the FEI Solidarity Award.  

“This award, coming at the end of a really challenging year, just validates everything that we’re working for,” General Manager of the Ebony Horse Club Naomi Howate said. “To be recognised as the best of the decade is such a huge accolade and has made us extremely proud of the work that we do here.

“Ebony is a youth club with horses, rather than a riding centre, because our ethos is all about helping our young people be the best they can be both on and off the horses.”

The organisation, which is based in Brixton, South London, provides young people from low income families with the opportunity to ride horses and take part in a variety of sporting and educational activities. 

The FEI has provided the 2020 FEI Solidarity Award winner with a financial donation to support the Ebony Horse Club projects. “We are a small club and we don’t have lots of resources,” Naomi Howgate said. “Donations are everything, as it is how we can provide the work we are doing. We support about 400 young people in a year and we can only do that with donations of money that allow us to run our services. So receiving this from the FEI is really fantastic!”

This year’s FEI Against All Odds Award goes to German Paralympian Dr Angelika Trabert. Born without legs and only three fingers on her right hand, Angelika is well known in the equestrian community for her indefatigable spirit and her motto, “It’s ability, not disability, that counts.”

She had just won individual gold at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2010 when she picked up her first FEI Against All Odds award, given to the person who has pursued their equestrian ambitions despite a physical handicap or extremely difficult personal circumstances.

Dr Trabert, an anaesthetist by profession, was inspired to be an athlete and coach in the years after tragically losing her long-time partner in 2005. She has won six Paralympic medals and four at the FEI World Equestrian Games™. She is also the current Para Athlete representative on the FEI Athletes’ Committee and a member of the FEI Para Equestrian Committee.

“I feel this is an award and a reward for the work I’ve been doing and what I feel is important for our sport,” Angelika Trabert said. “You should always look on the positive side, especially in these times. It’s very hard for a lot of people and it counts more than ever to look upon the possibilities and abilities that we have. And there are many.”

“Our global and diverse community is built on our shared passion for horsemanship and the team spirit, which is so present in all five of our winners, is replicated around the world and at every level of the sport, both on and off the field,” FEI President Ingmar De Vos said.

“Passion and resilience define our community, and these values are echoed in the stories of each of our FEI Awards winners for 2020. Congratulations to all the nominees and especially to our winners, thank you for your commitment to the sport and the values which make the equestrian world so rewarding and inspiring.”  

Notes to Editors:
Full information on the FEI Awards 2020 and past winners are available here.

All three equestrian disciplines – Jumping, Dressage and Eventing – have been formally confirmed for the Paris 2024 Olympic programme. In addition, the six events – team and individual across each of the three disciplines – and the full quota of 200 athlete/horse combinations have also been endorsed.

News of the confirmation came during today’s International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board online meeting, at which the full programme for Paris 2024 was formally approved. Individual International Federations were also provided with details of the event programme and athlete quotas for their sport in an official letter from IOC Director General Christophe De Kepper.

The ratification means that equestrian will keep its quota of 75 athlete/horse combinations for Jumping, 65 for Eventing and 60 for Dressage.

“We are very happy to receive formal approval of our three disciplines for Paris 2024 from the IOC Executive Board and also confirmation that our athlete quota remains untouched at 200”, FEI President and IOC Member Ingmar De Vos said.

“This confirmation is also a token of appreciation for the efforts the FEI and the equestrian community have made to increase the fan base and improve digital figures for our sport. We really appreciate that the IOC didn’t touch our quota as we knew they needed to reduce the overall Games-wide quota to 10,500 athletes, but our sport has grown so much over the last decade that a reduction of our quota would have been detrimental to the universality of our Olympic competitions.”

The equestrian events will be staged in the grounds of Versailles, with King Louis XIV’s Palace as a stunning backdrop at one of the French capital’s most iconic Games time venues. The UNESCO World Heritage Site will also be the site for Modern Pentathlon.

Full details of the Paris 2024 event programme were publicly announced at a press conference with the IOC President today. The IOC press release is available on www.olympic.org.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has today confirmed that the United Arab Emirates National Federation will remain suspended from FEI membership until 31 December 2020.

The CAS ruling comes after a two-day hearing via videoconference on 12 and 13 November following an appeal by the UAE against the suspension imposed by the FEI Board on 24 September 2020.

“We welcome today’s CAS decision confirming that a violation of the FEI rules occurred which warranted a full suspension of the UAE National Federation’s membership across all disciplines and significant financial penalties”, FEI President Ingmar De Vos said. “We are grateful to the CAS for expediting the hearing of this appeal so that we are able to provide clarity to our community on the issue prior to the FEI General Assembly next Monday.”

Today’s CAS decision rules that the UAE National Federation “is suspended with respect to all FEI disciplines from 24 September 2020 until 31 December 2020”.

The FEI Board had imposed a suspension on the UAE National Federation following a detailed investigation into the circumstances around two National Endurance Events (CEN) in January and February 2020 - the Sheikh Mohammed Cup and The President's Cup – that should have been held as International Endurance Events (CEIs) as the number of foreign athletes far exceeded the quota permitted for National Events.

The CAS also ruled that 25% of the prize money awarded at the 2020 Sheikh Mohammed Cup and 5% of the prize money awarded at the 2020 President’s Cup must be paid to the FEI, plus organising dues that would have been payable to the FEI had the Events been held as CEIs.

At the request of the parties, and in order to fast track the ruling, the CAS provided today’s decision without the full rationale, which will be provided at a later date.

Notes to Editors:

The press release on the FEI Board decision of 24 September 2020 is available here.

If you had the chance to choose, who would be your favourites from the winners over the past decade of FEI Awards?

Well now you have that opportunity! In a year when our sport has been brought to a standstill by the pandemic, we are looking back through the years and giving YOU the chance to pick the best of the best from the five FEI Awards categories.

And the public vote for the special edition FEI Awards 2020 is now open!

This year the winners in each of the five categories will be chosen entirely by the public and votes can be cast on FEI.org from today until 22 November. Winners will be announced the second week of December.

There are 55 nominees representing 19 nations across the five Awards categories: Longines FEI Rising Star; Peden Bloodstock FEI Best Athlete; Cavalor FEI Best Groom; FEI Against All Odds; and FEI Solidarity. The complete list of nominees can be found here.

“These Awards are a way to honour the heroes of our sport through their amazing stories of resilience, horsemanship, determination and passion,” FEI President Ingmar De Vos said.

“Equestrian is not just a sport, but a way of life for many people and this has been a desperately difficult year for the equestrian community, just as it has been for everyone, in every sector. Now, more than ever, we need to focus on the positives that our sport has to offer and celebrate the fantastic ambassadors that we have, both on the field of play and behind the scenes making a difference.”

Since their launch in 2009, the FEI Awards have become a key addition to the annual equestrian calendar and have grown in size and stature over the last decade. The FEI Best Athlete and FEI Rising Star Award categories have featured a high calibre of nominees from around the world with numerous Olympic, Paralympic and FEI World Equestrian Games™ honours among them.

With nine awards in total, Germany has the most number of winners and also tops the leader board in the FEI Best Athlete category, with five wins in 11 years.

German athletes in different Olympic disciplines have won the FEI Best Athlete category three years in a row. 2019 winner Ingrid Klimke, one of the world’s most successful Eventing riders, was the third German female to win the FEI Best Athlete award, following in the footsteps of FEI World Equestrian Games™ Jumping champion Simone Blum in 2018 and six-time Dressage Olympic gold medallist Isabell Werth in 2017.

Germany has also been to the fore in the FEI Rising Star Award, with the Rothenberger family claiming it twice, with Sönke winning in 2016 and his sister Semmieke taking home the honours last year.

Alongside the recognition of individual sporting accomplishments, the FEI Best Groom award highlights the important work of grooms, often the unsung heroes of equestrian sport, and the British have dominated this category. There was a double celebration in 2016 when Olympic champion Nick Skelton and his long-time groom Mark Beever were crowned Best Athlete and Best Groom. Career groom Jackie Potts won in 2014 for her long collaboration with Eventing legend William Fox-Pitt while Alan Davies, head groom to Dressage superstars Carl Hester and Charlotte Dujardin, won the title in 2017.

The FEI Solidarity Award has raised the profile of a number of equestrian development projects, individuals and organisations that have benefitted the sport and communities in countries such as Haiti, South Africa, Singapore, Uruguay, Zambia and Great Britain.

At the 2018 FEI Awards Gala in Manama (BRN), the FEI Solidarity Award was given to The Horsemanship Movement, founded by Chinese Eventing star Alex Hua Tian and his friend Philip Wong. The programme aims to improve the lives of migrant children through building a positive partnership with horses, as well as to reposition equestrian sports as a value-led activity, rich with character education for children.

Following his win in 2018, Alex Hua Tian became the only individual to have secured two accolades at the FEI Awards having also won FEI Rising Star at the inaugural FEI Awards Gala in 2009 in Copenhagen (DEN). The FEI Rising Star recognition came on the back of his Olympic debut at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing at the age of 18, where he became China's first equestrian Olympian and the youngest ever Eventer in Olympic history.

Perhaps the most inspiring of all the categories is the FEI Against All Odds Award, which has brought equestrian stories of courage, hope and faith to the forefront. The Award, given to a person who has pursued his or her equestrian ambitions despite a physical handicap or extremely difficult personal circumstances, has been won by athletes from Australia, Brazil, China, Germany, Haiti, Palestine, Uruguay and the USA.

“This year, more than ever, I invite you all to show your support for the multiple nominees in the different categories,” FEI President Ingmar De Vos said. “The equestrian community has been pushed to the limit this year but has come out stronger and this is our chance to unite and celebrate our community’s resilience in the face of adversity.”