Equestrian Sport in Paris 2024: Olympics and Paralympics Guide

The 2024 Paris Olympics is the next major sporting event on every equestrian’s calendar. This competition will bring together 200 horse and rider combinations to compete in the disciplines of eventing, dressage, and show jumping.

The 2024 Olympic equestrian events begin on July 27th and continue until August 6th. If you can’t make it to the Palace of Versailles to watch in person, live coverage will be available on NBC Olympics and CBC Sports.

Also not to be missed are the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, featuring 78 horse and rider pairs competing in Para Dressage. These events will be held between September 3rd – 7th.

This guide will bring you up to date on the types of competition, the qualified teams, and the current schedules for equestrian events in the upcoming Olympic Summer Games.

Equestrian in the Olympics

The first equestrian Olympic events were held in 1900 in Paris. ^[1] This year, equestrian Olympic events are returning to Paris for the 2024 Olympics at the beautiful Palace of Versailles.

History

Although the first equestrian Olympic events were held in 1900, they would not become an obligatory inclusion in the Olympic sport roster until 1924. ^[1] Equestrian events held in the early Olympic games included: ^[1]

• Eventing
• Dressage
• Jumping
• High jump
• Long jump
• Figure riding
• Hacks and hunter
• Mail coach

After 1924, only eventing, dressage and show jumping remained as official Olympic equestrian sports. ^[1]

In 1951, the International Olympic Committee voted to include women in equestrian sports. ^[1] Men and women continue to compete on a level playing field in the equestrian Olympic sports to this day. ^[1]

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Paris 2024 Olympic Equestrian Events

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games will host three equestrian disciplines: eventing, dressage and show jumping. The 2024 Paralympics will also host equestrian sport for para-athletes.

Eventing

Eventing combines dressage, cross-country and show jumping into one sport, similar to triathlon for humans. This sport has its roots in military training, where horses and officers needed to demonstrate a wide variety of capabilities for the battlefield.

Horses and riders participate in three days of competition during the Olympics. The first day, dressage, uses a similar format to Olympic Dressage. However, the judges convert the percent score into penalties.

The second day, cross-country, sees horses and riders galloping over an 8-10 minute course of solid obstacles. Horses and riders can incur both jumping and time penalties.

The final day, show jumping, is a course over moveable jumps, similar to Olympic Show Jumping. Knocking down a pole or refusing a fence during this phase adds more penalties to the score.

At the end of the three phases, the horse and rider combination with the lowest penalty total wins.

Medals

Horses and riders are only asked to perform the dressage and cross-country phases once. The scores earned here count towards both the team and individual competitions. However, there are separate show jumping phases for the team and individual medals at the Olympic Games.

After the team show jumping round, the teams with the lowest combined scores recieve Olympic Medals. After the individual show jumping round, the individuals with the lowest scores receive Olympic medals.

Notable Competitors

The top 5 eventing riders in the world (by FEI ranking as of June 2024) are:

• Oliver Townend (GBR): Townend was part of the Gold medal winning British Eventing team at Tokyo 2020.
• Boyd Martin (USA): Martin has competed at three previous Olympic games. He is also a two time Pan American Gold medallist as a member of the American eventing team.
• Rosalind Canter (GBR): Canter won individual and team Gold medals at the 2018 Tryon World Championships.
• Tom McEwen (GBR): McEwen was a member of the 2020 Tokyo British eventing team, winning Team Gold and Individual Silver.
• Harry Meade (GBR): Meade was a member of the Silver medal British Eventing team at the 2014 Normandy World Championships.

Dressage

Dressage is a sport based on the movements expected of cavalry horses going to battle. Today, the sport reflects the pinnacle of equine training, with horses displaying strength, balance, and obedience.

Dressage horses perform complex movements in a set order, called a dressage test. Judges score the horses and riders based on the movements’ harmony, precision, and fluidity. Each movement receives a score out of 10.

At the end of the test, each judge adds the scores for each movement and calculates a percentage. The highest percent score wins.

Medals

During the Olympics, horses perform three dressage tests to earn scores towards two different competitions, one for a team medal and one for an individual medal.

In the first performance, all 60 team and individual medal participants compete in the Grand Prix. The scores from this test determine which individuals and teams will move on to participate in the medal events. The top 10 teams and top 18 individuals move on to the medal events.

For the team medal competition, the horses and riders ride in the Grand Prix Special. This test contains similar movements and patterns to the Grand Prix. The three nations with the highest average scores across their three team members receive Olympic medals.

The individual medal competitors perform a Grand Prix Freestyle to determine medal placings. The riders and their teams design a custom dressage test for their Freestyle performance based on a list of prescribed movements. These tests are also set to music. The top three scores from the Freestyle receive Olympic medals.

Notable Competitors

The top 5 global dressage riders (by FEI ranking as of June 2024) are:

• Jessica Von Bredow-Werndl (GER): Bredow-Werndl was the individual Olympic Champion during the 2020 Summer Olympics. She also won Team gold in 2020.
• Isabell Werth (GER): Isabell Werth currently holds the record for the most Olympic medals won by any equestrian athlete.
• Charlotte Fry (GBR): Fry and Glamourdale won the Individual Grand Prix Special and Freestyle at the 2022 FEI World Championships.
• Nanna Skodborg Merrald (DEN): Skodborg Merrald won Team Gold at the 2022 Herning World Championships.
• Charlotte Dujardin (GBR): Dujardin has won 6 Olympic medals, including 3 Gold medals, making her Great Britain’s joint most decorated female Olympian of all time.

Show Jumping

Show jumping is an equestrian sport that harkens back to the days of hunting, where horses and riders galloping after foxes would leap over fences, walls, and ditches. Interest in the horses’ ability to jump high and wide led to the first show jumping competitions in 1864. ^[2]

Show jumping competitions continue to test the horse’s ability to jump, with the highest level events asking horses to jump up to 1.65 m (5’5″) high and 2.00 m (6’6″) wide. ^[3]

Judges score the competitions based on faults, points accumulated by knocking down poles or refusing (stopping at) a jump. Horses and riders also incur time faults for exceeding the time allowed.

The horse and rider with the lowest total faults wins.

Medals

Horses and riders compete in four jumping events during the Olympics. There are two sets of medals: one for team competition and one for individual competition.

The first event is the Team Qualifier, which has 60 horse and rider combinations from 20 countries competing. Each team has three horse and rider combinations, and the lowest total team score wins.

Based on these results, the top 10 teams move onto the Team Final the following day. The scores from the previous competition do not carry over to the Team Final. The best three teams after the Team Final receive Olympic medals.

The horses and riders have two days off before the Individual Qualifier. This event has 75 participants competing to be in the top 30 to move onto the Individual Final. Similar to the team events, the scores in the Individual Qualifier to not affect the Individual Final.

If there is a tie for the top placings, a jump-off is held over a shortened course, and the fastest horse with the fewest faults wins. The top three riders receive individual Olympic medals.

Notable Competitors

The top 5 international jumping riders (by FEI ranking as of June 2024) are:

• Henrik von Eckermann (SWE): von Eckermann was on the Gold medal winning Swedish team at Tokyo 2020.
• Ben Maher (GBR): Maher has two gold medals in show jumping: a team medal from London 2012 and an individual medal from Tokyo 2020.
• Steve Guerdat (SUI): Guerdat won the individual jumping at London 2012.
• Julien Epaillard (FRA): Epaillard has had great success at the international level, with recent medals at Nations Cup Finals and the European Championships.
• Max Kühner (AUT): Kühner has recent top placings in the Global Champions Tour, an international show jumping series.

Para Equestrian

Para equestrian is relatively new to Olympic sport compared to the other equestrian events. The first para equestrian events were held at the Paralympics in the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta. ^[4]

Para equestrians compete in dressage-based events, similar to Olympic Dressage. ^[4] The competitors perform a dressage test and judges score them on harmony, obedience, and fluidity. The type of dressage test performed depends on the rider’s Grade, a categorization based on the impact of the rider’s impairment on their ability to ride.

Medals

Similar to the other equestrian sports, the Paralympics have individual and team competitions for their athletes. Each of the 5 Grades of rider receive their own set of individual Paralympic medals, with one set for Team competition. A total of 11 sets of medals are distributed during the course of Paralympics.

Riders first participate in the Individual Championship, performing a test suitable for their Grade. The horse and rider combinations with the highest percent scores receive Olympic medals.

The top 18 horses and riders also move on to the Individual Freestyle Championship, where they perform a custom test set to music. The top riders from this competition also receive medals.

Riders from qualifying countries also participate in the Team Championship. Team members can be from any Grade level, but at least one must be from Grade I, II, or III. Four team members can participate, and the lowest score is dropped.

The team with the highest combined total of three team members wins the event.

Notable Competitors

The top 5 para equestrian riders (by FEI ranking as of June 2024) are:

• Mari Durward-Akhurst (GBR): Durward-Akhurst has had top placings at continental and regional Para Dressage championships.
• Laurentia Tan (SGP): Tan has represented Singapore at several Paralympic Games, including winning Silver and Bronze medals.
• Kate Shoemaker (USA): Shoemaker’s first Olympic games was Tokyo 2020, where she won Team Silver.
• Tobias Thorning Joergensen (DEN): Joergensen won two Individual Gold medals in para equestrian at Tokyo 2020.
• Pepo Puch (AUT): Puch has won 2 Golds, 3 Silvers and 1 Bronze at Olympic games since London 2012.

Paris 2024 National Equestrian Teams

The following table summarizes the national teams participating in the team events for the equestrian sports. Horses and riders from other countries may participate in the Individual events.

Schedule

All of the equestrian events will take place at the Palace of Versailles. The Olympic equestrian events run between July 27th and August 6th. ^[5] The para equestrian events run between September 3rd-7th. ^[6]

Note: This schedule is current at the time of publication but is subject to change by the IOC.

How to Watch the Olympic Equestrian Events

If you can’t make it to the Palace of Versailles for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, you can watch the events online on NBC Olympics or CBC Sports.