For the first time in history, the Irish dressage riders qualified for the Olympic Games with a team at the 2019 European Championships in Rotterdam. The joy was immense – until the association announced that it would not be sending a team to Tokyo. The riders are now on the defensive against this.
The Irish Federation had justified its decision not to send the dressage team to the Olympic Games in Tokyo due to the unavailability of important team members.
The best Irish couple is the recently retired Judy Reynolds and KWPN Golding Vancouver. Kate Dwyer is pregnant and Anna Merweld can’t even start.
However, there are still other couples who can qualify for the Olympic Games and drive with the minimum requirements. They want Tokyo!
Dane Rawlins, one of the Irish riders with Olympic aspirations, has appealed the decision. On the opposite side Horse & Puppy He described the decision as “bitter disappointment”. Especially when you think your opportunity has come. “We are fit, our horses are fit and ready, we are available and qualified, we want to drive!” He insisted.
Potential Olympic candidates have traveled from country to country to show themselves and achieve the desired results, so they can now hear that they cannot drive.
“Losing the best riders is really embarrassing because they all deserve their start. But does that mean no one else can ride? “, Rawlins asks and adds a rhetorical question:” The Olympic Games are about participation – behind the change in the rule that a team is allowed only three riders, and what’s behind it’s increase. “
In his view, it is important to send a team to the future of dressage in Ireland and to the riders who have worked hard to get there.
Association: Criteria not met
However, on the part of the association, the decision is said to have been made in collaboration with Johan Hinnamann, the “High Performance Director” (HPD) of the Irish Dressage Riders. He says the two couples did not meet the criteria he was asked to play in the role of HPD to attend Tokyo. They could not be nominated accordingly. That’s why you don’t have three pairs to get on the team in Tokyo.
The association then weighed it carefully and eventually decided to follow Hinnemann and return the team to first place.
They are now betting that there will still be a starting point that the association wants to claim.
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