Haya in Battle for Re-election as Equestrian Federation President

(ATR) Princess Haya tells Around the Rings she plans to deliver a more unified International Equestrian Federation with greater athlete representation and an Olympic Solidarity-style funding program if re-elected as president of the FEI on Friday.

Haya faces a serious challenge to her presidency from Henk Rottinghuis of the Netherlands and Sven Holmberg from Sweden.

Both men have criticised Haya's leadership, saying she has failed in her duties to meet the needs of national federations and been too slow to globalize the sport. They claim the FEI lacks transparency in its decision-making and desperately needs a new board structure to embrace Asian and African representatives.

The three candidates will each make 15-minute presentations at Thursday’s 'Meet the Candidates' session at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Taipei, the day before the presidential election at the FEI General Assembly.

Haya will address delegates first, followed by Rottinghuis and Holmberg. The session will be followed by a 45-minute debate chaired by former BBC presenter Sandy Chalmers. It will be broadcast live and free-to-view on FEI TV from 9:00 AM until 5:30, local Taipei time.

Responding to her critics, Haya told ATR: "I respect everyone's opinion. I am sure I have not made every federation happy. But this overlooks a lot of the achievements that have been made but there is a lot more to do in the future."

She added: "We have globalized at a rapid rate and one that is sustainable. There has been a heck of a lot achieved.

"I am proud the FEI is in a place where it can compete for the limelight with other international federations in its own right.

"The biggest challenge is to maintain that status and continue to evolve and look out for the best interests of our sport."

Princess Haya to Consolidate Achievements

Haya, who was elected as the 13th FEI President in May of 2006, cited her main accomplishments in the area of FEI governance and insisted the federation was more professionally run, more financially stable and with a stronger commercial portfolio than ever before.

The FEI was mired in doping controversy at the Beijing 2008 Olympics - six horses failed doping tests, casting a shadow over equatrianism. But Haya said the federation had since worked "hand-in-hand" with its athletes, the IOC and World Anti Doping Agency to provide clarity on prohibited drugs and clean up the sport.

"It was a difficult time for everybody. We finally moved the FEI in line with WADA and adopted a lot of the recommendations of Professor Lundqvist [head of the IOC's medical commission]."

The success of reforms was borne out at the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky, USA, where there were no positive drug tests recorded.

Haya said she is looking to push through a restructuring of the ruling FEI Bureau and provide athlete representation with full voting rights on the Executive Board. In October last year, she lost a vote on new statutes to slim down the 19-member bureau to a more efficient and effective seven-member board.

The 36-year-old's vision for another term in office also includes the development of an FEI Solidarity Program, mirroring the Olympic Solidarity concept.

"It would have its own structure and own source of income and board of trustees. It can provide a vehicle for development globally and is the model most of national federations are comfortable with," Haya said.

If re-elected in what would be her final term as FEI president, she also plans to address the transportation and quarantine challenges by implementing compulsory microchipping of equestrian sport horses, facilitated and supported by the FEI, while still allowing and celebrating the various breed brands.

In her presidential campaign, she is proposing diversification of the FEI’s income and creation of new revenue streams. This would include a change in the FEI’s commercial portfolio, with a move from sponsorship packages to commercial partnerships.

Henk Rottinghuis

Rottinghuis, 53, headed the Dutch equestrian federation from 1999 to 2004 and launched his manifesto for change in August. He highlighted "unrest over performance of the FEI" in the findings of his 100-day listening program in which he engaged with the national federations and other stakeholders in the sport.

The findings of the survey said the FEI "has lost its image and authority due to self-inflicted incidents" and claimed it is "not meeting the professional standards organizers and riders require from it".

Rottinghuis tells ATR he would unite a "divided" federation if he was elected as president, bridging the gap between the large and established federations and those less well-resourced national federations in developing nations.

"Europe has some big concerns which the federations want to take action on," he said, citing horse welfare issues and a crowded event calendar among them. "Other parts of the world have different needs and we have to fulfil those. Globalization is important for our sport."

Rottinghuis is advocating "a fresh approach that safeguards and builds on the FEI's successes to date, not one which abandons them and starts all over again".

He also promises to deliver a new FEI Board structure to foster better communication and understanding with athletes and to give developing nations a stronger voice in the federation's short and long-term growth strategy.

His modernization program includes a plan to increase the attractiveness of the sport to the public and media.

The Dutchman is also pledging to revamp the FEI's revenue strategy. He praised Haya for sinking millions of dollars into the sport but said prudency in spending federation finances and a multisourced funding strategy was required to protect the federation's financial welfare.

"We have to be very careful we don't fish from the same pond [as other federations chasing sponsorships]. That won't be easy but we can do it," he said.

If elected to replace Haya, Rottinghuis announced that David O'Connor, the 2000 Olympic gold medalist and president of the U.S. federation would be his 1st vice president and New Zealand lawyer Christopher Hodson his 2nd VP.

Sven Holmberg

FEI First Vice President Sven Holmberg is running for president on a promise to grow the sport in "undervalued" Asia and Africa.

The 65-year-old Swede pledges to appoint representatives from both continents to the Executive Board to help unite different regions of the equestrian world "so they start working together properly". Staging equestrian World Cups in developing countries is one of his proposals.

Holmberg, chairman of the FEI jumping committee, has been critical of Haya's management of the federation, and claimed there was plenty of opposition to her leadership style from the national bodies he has solicited opinions from.

"A lot of federations are not satisfied with the state of conditions at the FEI today. They don't feel the democratic processes are fully working. They feel their opinions are not really taken into account," Holmberg told ATR.

Holmberg pointed to plans for the restructuring of equestrian doping and medical controls put forward to the general assembly last year that he says were not discussed by the board.

Holmberg has also slammed the incumbent president's use of advisors and consultants from outside the federation instead of leaning on the expertise of the board and bureau, which he claimed has also irked members.

"It is not fair on the national federations and athlete organizations. I think it is a waste of our resources," he said.

Applauding Haya for investing heavily in the federation, Holmberg has proposed a business plan for the FEI that calls for more sustainable commercial partnerships.

Asked what his chances were in the election run-off Friday, he says he sensed the FEI membership wants a new president.

"Pretty good I would say. I think they really want a change of leadership, that is the impression I get."

Holmberg's vice presidential candidates are Catherine Weber de Rize of Guatemala and Christopher Hodson of New Zealand.

Written by Mark Bisson.