Believe it or not the
World Equestrian Games are only a month away! Our USA squad members'
horses are currently receiving their final veterinary exams prior to departure
the end of the month. We wish them all a safe journey. Some of you might
be interested in the history of the Games and what we can look forward to this
year.
May
2002
Dr Bo Helander, FEI Secretary
General
Looking forward to the World Equestrian
Games
I have to admit I am impatiently waiting for the 2002
World Equestrian Games in Jerez de la Frontera (ESP) hoping for first class
quality in every aspect. In fact, there are excellent reasons to expect the best
WEG ever. In order to get better understanding of such a clear-cut opinion, I
believe it would be interesting and useful to make a concise overview of the
previous editions of the WEG.
A bit of history
The idea of World
Equestrian Games came into being in the mid-1980’s and was strongly
supported, if not originally proposed, by Prince Philip, the then-FEI President.
The first WEG were due to take place in 1990 and the 1986 FEI General Assembly
convening in Lisbon (POR), allocated the Games to Stockholm with Rome as a very
close runner-up. It may be that some of the voters remembered the excellent
organisation of the equestrian events in Stockholm during the 1956 Olympic
Games...
The first WEG, Stockholm 1990
Anyhow, Stockholm’s
1912 Olympic Stadium was selected as the main arena for the 1990 WEG. It had, of
course, undergone several reconstructions since 1912 and with the 1990 WEG in
mind, the city authorities decided upon a major renovation.
No
equestrian competition of comparable magnitude involving all six FEI disciplines
had been organised prior to 1990. Moreover, given that Stockholm had not
organised equestrian events for a number of years, the Organising Committee put
to profit the time leading up to the Games holding test events in one or two
disciplines each year. These certainly were one of the reasons for the success
of the Games.
Another reason was the considerable involvement of the
Swedish National Federation. The number of staff members working for the Games
gradually increased and Ulf Rosengren, the Federation Secretary General, became
the very successful Organising Committee Director.
From a sporting point
of view, the 1990 WEG were a glorious success blessed with unbelievably fine
weather.
On the financial side, sponsorship income surpassed the goals
and the ticketing revenue turned out to be very impressive as all the
disciplines attracted numerous spectators. Despite these positive results, no
final surplus was achieved. The overall expense budget was exceeded partly due
to the difficulty in planning for some items, but mainly because no expenses
were spared to produce perfect Games. A technical loss was also incurred because
an original promise regarding VAT-issues had not been kept. This deficit was
however covered by a state guarantee. It should nonetheless be noted that a
study conducted after the Games showed that the 1990 WEG had produced a positive
impact on Stockholm economy. More importantly, the Games had had a tremendous
influence on the development of equestrian disciplines in Sweden.
The
Hague 1994
Unfortunately the momentum gathered in Stockholm could not be
maintained. The following edition of the World Equestrian Games took place in
The Hague in 1994. It is mainly remembered by the financial disaster it turned
out to be and the enormous organisational problems that had become only too
obvious at a rather early stage. These circumstances were all the more
regrettable as they overshadowed the sports performances which were very
impressive. The sport in all disciplines was of the highest level with many
outstanding moments. It was also generally followed by a large number of
spectators that would have been even larger if the ticketing would have worked
properly. The sponsorship it attracted was also quite satisfactory.
1998
WEG
The 1998 WEG were allocated to Dublin even before the 1994 edition had
taken place and unfortunately, despite the very good initial plans, there were
various problems which had become apparent from the very beginning. Finally, the
Dublin Organising Committee was forced to give up when the Irish Government
withdrew vital financial support in the late spring of 1997. I personally
believe that this failure can be attributed to a number of different factors,
the cumulative effect of which, in the end made it impossible to organise the
WEG in Ireland.
The abandonment of the project was dramatic as Ireland is
a country with very thoroughly developed horse tradition and I still believe
that organising the WEG was not all that impossible. In this difficult situation
the FEI Executive Board was very happy that several countries showed interest to
organise the 1998 WEG in spite of the short notice. Some four months after the
withdrawal of Dublin, Rome was chosen to take over the 1998 Games. Particular
credit goes to the Italian NF President Cesare Croce, who showed much courage in
taking the project over.
It was in fact absolutely amazing how well the
Italians were able to organise the 1998 WEG within such a brief period of time.
Admittedly, they had fantastic facilities and a number of devices for such
demanding disciplines as Eventing and Driving were already in place, but it is
nevertheless almost a miracle to achieve such well organised Games in such a
short time. Similarly to Stockholm and The Hague, the sport in Rome was
excellent. Financial aspects were skilfully handled mainly by Andrea Riffeser of
Monrif Group, an important Italian publishing company, and as far as can be
ascertained, all WEG expenses were covered.
For several years equestrian
sport had had problems with TV coverage due to an unsatisfactory contract
between the FEI and the German TV channel DSF which had replaced the European
Broadcasting Union (EBU). In 1997 it finally became possible for the FEI to
contract out. Following this decision, the FEI succeeded to restore cooperation
with the EBU with a resulting improved TV-situation in time for the 1998
WEG.
2002 WEG, the best Games ever
Substantial experience has been
gained throughout the somewhat mixed history of the WEG. The financial situation
in Jerez appears to be sound and unprecedented numbers of spectators are
expected.
Moreover, Andalusia, the Spanish province where Jerez is
located, is a true horse country enjoying a rich equestrian tradition going back
centuries. Jerez is the city of the Real Escuela Andaluza del Arte Equestre
(Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art), a major ambassador for the area.
These are the reasons why the equestrian world is looking forward to
what should be unforgettable Games.
Dr Bo Helander
Secretary
General
