Hong Kong for Olympic Equestrian Events

(ATR) The equestrian events in the 2008 Olympics are moving to Hong Kong

Guardar

(ATR) The equestrian events in the 2008 Olympics are moving to Hong Kong. BOCOG president Liu Qi announced the venue change during his report on preparation for the Games to the IOC Session in Singapore. Equine health issues are the reason.

The president of the International Equestrian Federation, the Dona Infanta Pilar de Borbon, who had resisted the move, now has agreed to the inevitable.

"We are going to have great Olympic Games in Hong Kong," said the Spanish IOC member.

The change is the most radical for an organizing committee since 1956, also involved the equestrian events, which had to be held in Stockholm instead of Melbourne. Equine disease control was the issue then, as well.

BOCOG has been considering the move from more than a year, based on concerns for the spread of livestock disease from animals in the Beijing area to the mounts imported to China for the Olympics.

Hong Kong, which has a well-established equestrian scene and two large race courses, does not have the same health concerns. Weather conditions in August are the main worry, says the FEI President.

"Come and blow away the humidity, it's the only problem," she says about Hong Kong's sticky weather, which will produce temperatures in excess of 30c and humidity levels in the 90% range in the period of the Games.

A team of experts from the FEI will be heading to Hong Kong in August to take measurements and research what will need to be done to counter the humid conditions. The Dona Infanta says adjusting the timetable of the competition could be one answer.

The venue will be the Hong Kong Jockey Club, founded in 1884, the club runs two tracks in northern Hong Kong Island and has stables to hold hundreds of horses.

The FEI President says she still has hopes that Chinese sports officials will develop a legacy venue near Beijing that will not be affected by disease concerns.

"They are going to choose a place and we have come to an agreement that there is going to be a disease-free zone. We don't know where it is going to be located, but we think it will be decided in 2006."

On the scene coverage of the IOC Session in Singapore, throughout the week, at www.aroundtherings.com.

Guardar

Últimas Noticias

Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons

Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons

Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024

She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024

Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris

Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris

Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years

The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years

Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”

The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”