With teams of four, many major riders had already been left aside during the last Olympics; such as Reed Kessler, Laura Kraut, Scott Brash, Rodrigo Pessoa and Phillipe Weishaupt among others.

Try imagining the Olympic games without Marcus Ehning or Bezzie Madden. This scenario is now unfortunately very possible with the new measure of the FEI.

There had been rumors for a few weeks but it is now official: the FEI voted today in favor of reducing the number of riders in the Olympic teams and removing the drop score rule, where the worst score of each team was discarded.

From now on; jumping, dressage and eventing teams will only comprise three riders. Only 11 National Federations - including France - out of the 106 represented, voted against the proposal. This decision still has to be approved by the IOC to be adopted for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic games. According to the FEI, the aim of this decision is to increase the number of flags flying around the Olympic arenas… But aren’t there better ways to achieve this goal?

By reducing the number of riders per team, more small nations of lower levels will be able to participate, at the risk of decreasing the quality of competitions and thus their attractiveness.

You will find here the detailed press release from the FEI.

The Seaver team