Sitemaps

In the olympics, why2007-11-24 21:17:44

In the olympics, why is there just dressage and just show jumping and then there is 3-day eventing with dressage, xc, and showjumping? Why isn't there a cross-country alone? Also, in 2004 why did some people think Germany shouldn't have gotten their medal? Thanks!

Answers:

Germany lost their showjumping gold when Ludger Beerbaum's horse, Goldfever, came up positive for a banned substance. Three-Day rider Bettina Hoy's horse was also found to have a banned substance, but she'd already lost her gold medal for a technical infraction.

As far as your other question, "Dressage" and "Show Jumping" are individual sports, but "Combined Training" or "Three-Day Eventing" is a medly of dressage, jumping and cross country. Combined Training was originally intended as a test for cavalry horses and if you look at pictures from the 1950's and before you'll often see riders wearing their military uniforms.

The ideal combined training horse has to be quiet and obediant enough to do a smooth dressage test, brave and bold enough to gallop over solid cross country fences and then have enough stamina and accuracy to come back the next day and put in a clean round over stadium jumps that can be easily knocked down by a careless or tired horse. It's an extremely demanding sport because it requires so many different things from the horses.

---

When the modern Olympics were first started, the Three-day event was restricted to military (cavalry) officers, and although the Dressage and Jumping events were open to civilians, very few civilians participated in the equestrian events until the 1948 Olympics.