Robert Dover, multiple U.S. Olympic team rider and former Dressage Task Force Member, has once again expressed his outspoken opinion. For his blog Dover's World he wrote a critique on the current Olympic format of the team competition now runs over two tests, the Grand Prix and brand new, altered Olympic Grand Prix Special.
Dover wrote the following on his website Dover's World:
From My Angle - Three Federations, Three Critiques
The ongoing turmoil over the F.E.I.’s possible decision to attempt to suspend the International Dressage Riders Club over ambiguous rules pertaining to how members of the Dressage Committee are supposed to be nominated and elected have been hitting the headlines as riders come forward with their opinions. I love that they are stepping up to the plate! Clearly, there are further issues with the writing and editing of rules as has been seen by this ridiculous problem of the Individuals being allowed to compete on qualified Teams this year at the Olympic Games. Our Dressage Task Force clearly wanted all qualified Teams to be able to bring their 4th combination as an Individual who could, should the need arise, be used on the Team until 1 hour before both the Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Special. Only Individuals from nations not able to field a Team were to be selected from the World Ranking List. Can you imagine only 3 Teams being allowed to bring their 4th rider and horse along and how this may help them over all the others, especially if, as it usually does happen, one horse on a Team goes lame and thus the nation is no longer able to field a Team at all. And if this happens to some good countries, their other 2 combinations will now become Individuals to be added into the 11 which are able to go on to the Grand Prix Special, a test, by the way, that was supposed to be shortened and somehow ended up just about as long as the former, far nicer, Special.
Here is what the rules say regarding Individuals going on the the Grand Prix Special:
The FEI Grand Prix Special is the final Team competition and the Second (2nd) Individual Qualifying Competition. The FEI Grand Prix Special is limited to and compulsory for the best seven (7) placed teams of the Grand Prix, including those tied for 7th place, ( Our Task Force had advised 8 Teams, but that was using a shortened version of the GPS, not the one now which is practically as long as the former one.) as well as the eleven (11) highest placed riders of the Grand Prix not otherwise participating as the qualified team members, including those tied for 11th place.
The important word is “qualified”. If a rider participate in a team, which does not qualify for the GPS, the rider is automatically able to come on the list of the 11 individuals.
Richard Davison and I used to look carefully at the wording of proposed rules to be certain they could not be ambiguous. I can not say this for the present Dressage Committee when I look at how unclear these statements are taken by themselves without the input of Trond Asmyr, who informed the head of Equine Canada as to their meaning. The FEI needs to re-examine their entire situation as a supposedly Democratically composed organization and seek outside assistance to redefine the way in which they do their business.
Speaking of Equine Canada/ Dressage Canada, when I decided not to re-sign my contract, I hoped to leave them with several important thoughts as to how to progress and become more competitive nation in the sport. First, I said they absolutely needed to create a fundraising mechanism such as the one America has in the US Equestrian Team Foundation. Only then could they produce a far stronger national and international training program which would offer world-class education to all riders from Juniors through the Elite Grand Prix competitors. Finally I gave them a formula for selecting their Pan American Team far different from the one used to pick their WEG Team, which made absolutely no sense. For the WEG, a rider needed to get 4 scores over 67% and could throw out all others. meaning if they got the 4 scores early in the year and then became a disaster later in the season, while another rider and horse began doing better and was on the rise but was just edged out by one score from the former rider, the first would make the Team. For the Pan Am’s, I told them they had to have the best 12 to 15 combinations ride in head-to -head competitions to determine the top 4 to make the Team. This is what America and most nations do and is tried and true. Canada did this for the Pan Am’s and it worked to their benefit, earning them a silver team medal and an Olympic berth. But do you think they remembered this for this Olympic year? Nope! They went back to the old WEG selection system that once again makes no sense and will most certainly not ascertain they have the very best combinations going to the Games. So, basically, Canada has not implemented any of the changes I hoped they would, other than the riders forming a stronger Active Athletes Committee, though I’m not sure how much it has helped them. Very sad!
And finally America. The U.S. has made some headway in creating better national programs for its riders at all levels but still has a way to go. We are fortunate to have the USET Foundation to raise funds for our training and competitive programs, though these programs could still be stronger and better staffed. My only real critique during this Olympic year is regarding the selection process which not only has used only the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Special to qualify the top 15 combinations for Gladstone’s Final Selection Trials, but will not even contest the Grand Prix Freestyle at all in Gladstone. For many years, although only the Grand Prix determined the Team medals, we always contested the Grand Prix (sometimes twice in back-to-back weekends) as well as the Grand Prix Special and the Freestyle in order to both ensure we were producing medal winning teams but also extremely strong individuals destined to make it into the Freestyle. America should always be in the business of preparing 100% toward both goals. Not keeping to our own “tried and true” methods of doing so is a step backward for our Team. It has also had serious implications for our CDI’s all season in which the Freestyles were generally very poorly contested because riders needed to get their Grand Prix Special scores and the Freestyle didn’t count for anything. Not only was this bad for shows where most spectators normally go to see the Kurs, I believe it even undermined the ability for vendors to make a good living. All in all, a poor decision.
I’m sure my opinions are not going to go over well with everyone who reads them, but I truly believe all 3 of these federations need to do a better job for their athletes. It is what they exist to do, not as some think, to further the political aspirations of those holding offices in the organizations.
- by Robert Dover
Robert Dover's previous guest column: The FEI vs The Riders...Really?
