In a press release, the FEI writes that Olympic qualification and quota distribution were the key focus points at the third of three sessions at the FEI General Assembly in Montevideo (URU) yesterday, ahead of Tuesday’s vote on the system for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

FEI President Ingmar De Vos spoke on how the distribution of quota places will be provide great opportunities to qualify for the Olympic Games. “The technical committees of the three disciplines have provided well balanced proposals creating avenues for all regions of the world to participate in the Olympic Games in line with the principle of universality, giving important slots to our flagship World Equestrian Games.”

Delegates representing 106 National Federations (63 on-site and 43 by proxy) joined in lively debate on the topic, including clarification on the final deadline for horse/rider combinations to achieve their Minimum Eligibility Requirements. This was originally set for 18 May 2020, but the proposal is now to move this to five weeks before the final sports entry dates across all three Olympic disciplines.

The earlier session had focused on rules revisions, with the discipline specific proposals for rule changes discussed at length.

Under jumping, the proposed rules for the CSI invitation system will be voted on unchanged, despite a last-minute call from the European Equestrian Federation to revise the proposal. This will be voted on separately and not en bloc with the rest of the jumping rules revisions.

The phased banning of hind boots for jumping over three years, starting with competitions for ponies and children in 2019, generated considerable discussion. It was agreed that this proposal would be voted on separately and not en bloc with the rest of the jumping rules revisions. If the phased introduction is not approved tomorrow, there will be a second vote on the new proposal to implement this across all levels from 1 January 2021.

The day’s first session provided a detailed update of the activity and plans of the Officials Working Group, based on the 13 recommendations presented at the 2017 FEI Sports Forum. A key milestone is the completion of The Officials Code of Conduct which will now be voted on as part of the FEI General Regulations in Tuesday’s General Assembly.

The General Assembly starts at 09:00 local time, and livestreaming of the full session will be available to watch here.

Source: Press release from the FEI // Picture © Jenny Abrahamsson