Brazilian Horses Stand In for Equestrian Test Event -- On the Scene

(ATR) Rio 2016 and equestrian leaders tell Around the Rings the test event is running smoothly despite no foreign horses coming to Brazil.

According to Rio 2016 venue management director Gustavo Nascimento and FEI director of games and championships Tim Hadaway, a mixture of uncertainty from the Brazilian Agricultural Ministry and financial reasons led to the test event becoming a national championship for Brazilian riders.

"For the Games, we pay for athletes to come to Brazil. For the test event, we could not afford to pay these travel expenses like the other 43 test events," Nascimento told ATR.

Nascimento added that the purpose of the test event is to test the operational side of the venue, and that was being done to an extent that pleased the organizing committee and FEI.

"We hired a state-of-the-art company that does the entire supply chain of the horses into the venue, and we are in very good hands," Nascimento added.

"Testing the airport is very important, but we don’t think it compromises the event itself.With 13 or 35 horses you can test everything that you’re supposed to test. The only thing that has impact is to shorten up the competition hours, therefore changing the daily run sheets of the event."

Hadaway added that by the time the agricultural ministry shored up the protocols for entering Brazil, some, but not all, national federations decided against participation forgoing any uncertainty.

"In all reality, once they were confirmed there wouldn’t have been any issues for them, but it was just a level of uncertainty," Hadaway said.

"Some when they were putting their budgets together decided that this is not a priority for us, so then the other side of the issue is of course financial because Brazil is far away."

Luiz Roberto Giugni confirmed the delay in outlining protocols from the government to ATR, although he said issue has since been resolved.

"I think that the communication inside Brazil was a problem," Giungni said to ATR.

"The agricultural minister then decided to make another plan for the horses. Now we have entered in the process working with the same protocol we had before to not have problems."

Clear protocols need to be outlined to all national federations entering Brazil, because of an outbreak of glanders in the country. Glanders is an infectious disease that affects horses and can be spread to humans through contact. The disease has been eradicated in the United States and most of Europe, but remains endemic in Brazil.

Since the protocols were not shored up in time, some federations passed on attending the test event. Organizers say the disease is not and will not be an issue for horses that travel to Deodoro.

"You know the best way to avoid disease contamination is not to have horses on site, and for six months this site hasn’t had any horses," Nascimento said.

Hadaway said that FEI is aware of the disease, but having horses in state of Rio de Janeiro infected did not compromise the test event, which he believed was a success.

"I was genuinely bowled over when I walked here on [Aug. 3]," Hadaway said.

"We’re very happy that the steps have been taken and the measures that have been put in place that will protect the regionalized status of the venue. We’re not seeing anything at this stage that gives us cause for concern.

"What these last six weeks are showing is the vision and drive and ability to make this happen is absolutely there. They need to keep their foot on the pedal after this test event, to achieve what needs to be achieved, but we’re very happy with the progress they’ve made."

An observer program including members of the Brazilian sports and agriculture ministries and equestrian chef de missions from around the world attended the test event. For the chef de missions the event served as a way to learn about Rio 2016 operations without importing horses into the country.

Hadaway said that"observers here wouldn’t learn much more if they had horses here."

Getting to Deodoro

For residents, getting to the Deodoro venue still takes quite a bit of time.

Traveling via public transportation from Copacabana it took Around the Rings just over two hours to reach the venue. After arrival, it was noted a media shuttle is available, taking half the time. Without the assistance of volunteers, finding the venue was a challenge due to a lack of signage in the area.

BRT services are available from Barra, and like a cab from that section of town can take around 40 minutes.

Written by Aaron Bauer in Rio de Janeiro

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