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“Blood rule” causes four disqualifications so far in Rio

Tuesday, 16 August 2016
The Olympic Games Rio 2016

Arena

The FEI stewards and Ground Jury pay close attention in Rio, as four riders already have been disqualified under the so-called “blood rule”.

It is article 242.3.1 of the FEI Jumping Rules that has caused discussion in the past, and this summer the FEI updated the Steward’s Manual for jumping with the inclusion of a new protocol for handling cases of blood on a horse's flank(s) and/or marks indicating excessive use of the spur(s).

During the Games in Rio the “blood rule” has been paid close attention to from the stewards and Ground Jury, and four riders have so far been disqualified under article 242.3.1 due to overuse of spurs or whip.

In Sunday’s first individual qualifier both Nicola Philippaerts and Jur Vrieling were first eliminated after two refusals each, but were later disqualified after they left the arena – for overuse of spurs and whip respectively. For their individual score both the elimination and the disqualification put an end to their Olympic chances. As a part of the Dutch team, Vrieling was still allowed to compete as a team member today as Sunday’s result only counted individually.

During the first round of the team competition today it was Ukraine’s Cassio Rivetti and Brazil’s Stephan de Freitas Barcha who got the red light from the Ground Jury due to overuse of spurs. Ukraine did not qualify for the second round of the team competition, and is thus not affected by the decision.  For the home team on the other hand the disqualification means they will only have three riders for the team final, leaving them in a very vulnerable position. However, Brazil has supposedly appealed FEI’s decision.

 


Text and photo © World of Showjumping



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