One important part of the Dressage Task Force brief was to look into the appointment procedure for judges for the major championships. Two of the major issues was to secure both quality and a neutral selection process.
It has been a requirement from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to introduce this. The work has now been finalized, through the FEI Bureau’s approval of the rules.
The process is:
- 15 months before the actual championship/games: The Judges Supervisory Panel will propose a ”long list” to the Dressage Committee, with up to 12 judges; max 2 per NF; from a minimum of 8 NFs.
- 9 months before: Short list/actual judges; if a home judge is among the 12, he/she is automatically on the GJ; if two home judges on the long list, a draw between them first to have one of them on the GJ, before the rest of the judges are drawn.
The European Championships 2011 will be the first time we use this new selection process. The time to the 2011 World Cup Final is too short to use this process for 2011.
The members (except of one, who could be in a conflict of interest) of the Dressage Committee and the Dressage Department have given their votes among the 5* judges. The 12 judges with the most votes have been added to the long list, and we are now in the process of asking the judges. In the fall, a random draw will be made between these 12 judges to establish the list of actual judges for the championship.
Photo © Astrid Appels
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Judging Panel for 2011 European Dressage Championships Announced