Barcelona, Oct 6 (EFE).- The president of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI), Ingmar De Vos, is satisfied with the League of Nations’ new format for jumping.
The competition calendar now includes four qualifying rounds plus the final. The federation also wants to add event for 2026.
In an interview with Agencia EFE, the president acknowledged that the new version of the Nations Cup, the oldest equestrian competition for this discipline and held since 1909, is the perfect combination of what riders, organizers, spectators, and the media want.
Although five qualifying rounds were part of the initial draft, the FEI opted to “be very careful and have only very good events in the series.” However, after this initial season, De Vos said they are “looking forward to expanding it, maybe not for next year, but probably in 2026.”
At the Real Club de Polo de Barcelona, the venue for the final for at least four years, the eight qualified teams – plus Spain as host country – will compete on Sunday. The teams are drawn from the top ten teams of the FEI ranking that participated in three previous rounds, in Abu Dhabi, Ocala (United States), and Rotterdam (Netherlands). The fourth scheduled round in St. Gallen (Switzerland) was canceled due to bad weather.
An Olympic year for League of Nations
As in many sports, the 2024 Olympic Games left its mark on the equestrian calendar. De Vos described Paris as a success not only because Versailles was “an iconic venue,” but also because of the level of the competition.
Looking to the future, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has already confirmed that the equestrian sport will be present at Los Angeles 2028. The FEI still has to wait for the IOC’s decision on which disciplines will be chosen. However, they are “very confident” that it will be the same number of athletes and events.
Another key issue was animal welfare, especially after the publication of a video in which rider Charlotte Dujardin – one of Great Britain’s most successful athletes – hit a student’s horse on the legs with a whip during a training session four years ago.
“This type of behavior is unacceptable,” condemned the FEI president. He added that he had doubts about the true intentions of the people who released the video, “because if you identify a case of abuse, you have to report it immediately and not wait until just before the Olympic Games.”
Two years ago, the federation set up an Equine Ethics and Welfare Commission, to deal with these issues and raise awareness. As part of this, they also created initiatives such as ‘Be a Guardian’, a campaign to inform about a series of recommendations and obligations related to the care of horses.
Instability in the Royal Spanish Equestrian Federation
Regarding the open crisis in Spanish equestrian sport, due to the choice of members of its Olympic team and the electoral process, Ingmar De Vos said the FEI respects the independence and sovereignty of each federation: “As long as they apply good governance practices and as long as they work together with the national Olympic committee, we will not interfere.”
In this case, he confirmed that the FEI will remain on the sidelines, “unless there are serious governance problems.”
However, Eduardo Álvarez Aznar, Ismael García Roque, Sergio Álvarez Moya, and Manuel Fernández Saro continue to refuse to represent Spain, and will not compete, for example, in the final of the League of Nations.
“I speak for myself, I will return when they solve everything at the federation, that there they have a team leader with criteria and that sporting matters take precedence over political matters, which is what we have been living with, not only the last few months, which is when everything exploded but in the last 4 or 5 years,” Alvarez Aznar told EFE. EFE