Although not officially posted on the FEI website, the Portuguese Olympic Committee and the Finnish Equestrian Federation have officially received the message that they have secured a team for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
As Eurodressage already announced in early January, Portugal and Finland received team spots because two countries failed to meet the criteria.
brazil and south africa
Brazil Failed to present certificate of competency (three combinations that scored 67% twice between the 2022 World Championships and December 31, 2023). Brazil qualified for the Pan American Games for the second year in a row, but failed to qualify for the Tokyo and Paris Games.
South Africa Due to Grete Ferreira’s horse being withdrawn due to injury, the team was unable to qualify for Group F and no individual qualification was possible.
Portugal and Finland
The national federations, not the FEI, confirmed that they had won the team spots. These countries earned tickets to Paris through combined teams. Three of its riders are ranked highest in the FEI Olympic Rider Rankings and could potentially form a “composite” team.
Olympics in Tokyo, next in Paris?
The Portuguese Olympic Committee said: “The eligibility of the Portuguese team was determined on the basis of a redistribution of vacancies operated by the FEI. One of the vacancies was not used and the other did not meet the minimum eligibility requirements. (…) Qualifying for the dressage team means Portugal will be able to take three athletes to the 2024 Paris Games to compete in both the team and individual competitions. It means that.”
The Finnish Equestrian Federation said: “This is a really pleasant surprise! In recent years, our dressage team has performed well in major competitions, even though we did not reach the highest level at last summer’s European Championships. But fortunately, we had a lot of good results in other competitions during the season, so we had enough points to qualify for the Olympics,” said Jutta Koivula, Sporting Director of the Finnish Equestrian Federation.
Koibra added: “The last time the Olympic dressage team participated was in Seoul in 1988. It’s great to see the level of dressage rising and now allowing the whole team to participate. , we have more than a dozen international-level players who will aim for a team position in Paris.”
Photo © Astrid Appels
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