FUNDAMENTAL CHANGES IN EQUESTRIAN SPORT

For the equestrian sport the 1952 Olympic Games brought some fundamental changes. Most visible was the change from military riding to civilians. In the 1948 Jumping competition, 41 of the 44 starters were riding in uniform; in 1952 more than half were civilians.

The FEI had made some essential decisions:

·                  Non commissioned officers, corporals and soldiers were allowed to compete in all three disciplines.

·                  Women were allowed in Dressage but not in Jumping - the FEI having decided against it in 1951 - and not in Eventing, which the FEI did not even consider. FEI’s decision not to allow women in Jumping forced the USA to drop their sole woman on the squad.

·                  There would be two rounds in the Jumping competition (Nations Cup) .

·                  Piaffe and passage would again be part of the Dressage test.

ENTER SOVIET UNION

For the first time since 1912 Russian riders competed ? now representing the Soviet Union. They did not stand the slightest chance of winning after 35 years of isolation, total ignorance of modern-day rules and judging principles. But they learned fast: 10 years later a Soviet rider won Olympic Dressage gold, the Soviet Eventing team was European champion and the Soviet Jumping team won the prestigious Nations Cup of Paris.

Key Facts and Figures (general):

• ·                  69 nations
• ·                  4,955 athletes (519 women; 4,436 men)
• ·                  17 sports
• ·                  The Soviet Union entered the Olympics for the first time, although their athletes were housed in a separate "village".
• ·                  It was also a first for Israel only four years after the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.

Key Facts and Figures (equestrian)

• ·                  25 nations (Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherland, Norway, Portugal, Rumania, Soviet Union, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, USA)
• ·                  Newcomers were Canada , Egypt, Korea and the Soviet Union . Chile returned for the first time since 1912.
• ·                  138 entries (52 in Jumping; 27 in Dressage; 59 in Eventing)
• ·                  Mixed events opened to both men and women took place for the first time.?  

JUMPING (52 riders from 20 nations)

The two sets of medals ? team and individual ? were decided by the Prix des Nations (Nations Cup) held for the first time over two rounds. Sixteen teams with three riders each competed. The course, designed by Bjo rn Strandell, measured 786 meters, which gave a time allowed of 1 min. 57.2 sec. The height of the obstacles was up to 1.60m ? the water jump measured 5m Strandell, who had travelled all over Europe in the previous years, also built the obstacles of the Cross-Country of Eventing.

DRESSAGE (27 riders from 10 nations)

The Dressage competition of 1952 bore little resemblance to the one of 1948. The test, which now included piaffe and passage, took 15 minutes; non-commissioned officers were allowed and so were women, four of whom competed out of a starting field of 27.

The best known of these women has come to be Lis Hartel of Denmark, whose background was rather different from most equestrian athletes of the time. In 1944, at the age of 23, she was paralysed by polio and while she gradually regained the use of most of her muscles she nonetheless remained paralysed below the knee but learned to do without those muscles. She was chosen to represent Denmark at the 1952 Olympics and, even though she had to be helped on and off her horse, was awarded silver. When gold medallist Henri St-Cyr helped her up onto the victory platform for the medal presentation, it was one of the most emotional moments in Olympic history.

Eighteen riders competed on the first day, nine the day after. As was customary then, the scores were only made public after the end of the competition.

There were five judges. But for the first and last time the highest and the lowest scores of each judge were not considered.

EVENTING (59 riders from 21 nations)

The demands were slightly raised as to what was asked in 1948, as follows:

A.            roads and tracks              7km              240m / min.

B.            steeplechase                   4km              600m / min.

C.            roads and tracks              15km            240m / min.

D.            cross-country                  9km              450m / min.

E.             gallop                                2km              333m / min.

The obstacles in both the Cross-Country and the Jumping were up to 1.20m.

Of the 19 nations with teams, 13 fielded army teams. Two ? Great Britain and Ireland - had mixed teams composed of military officers and civilians and four ? Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, and the USA ? participated with civilians. On the two medal podiums there were five officers and seven civilians.