Text © World of Showjumping

With the Olympic Games 2020 only seven months away, the qualification path for Tokyo has reached its end. A total of 35 different nations will be represented in Tokyo, twenty with teams and fifteen with individuals. 

In total, 60 horse-and-rider combinations will be part of the twenty teams – one of them being the host nation Japan. USA, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands and Australia all earned their tickets at the World Equestrian Games in Tryon in 2018, while Belgium, Great Britain and France qualified at last year’s European Championships in Rotterdam. Brazil, Mexico and Argentina qualified at the Pan-American Games in Lima in 2019, while Ireland won the Longines FEI Nations Cup Final in Barcelona last year to secure their spot for the Olympics. The Czech Republic, Israel, Egypt, Qatar, New Zealand and China have all gone through FEI Designated Olympic Qualification Events in their respective regional groups to earn their spots. The Czech team replaces Ukraine, that won the Group C1 FEI Designated Olympic Qualification Event in Budapest in June 2019. The Ukrainian team has been unable to confirm the NOC Certificate of Capability to the FEI by the deadline that was set to 31 December 2019, and according to the rules their team quota place has been reallocated to the Czech Republic – runner-up at the same qualification event. 

The NOC Certificate of Capability requires that at least three horse-and-rider combinations from that NOC have achieved the Minimum Eligibility Requirements during the period running from the FEI World Equestrian Games 2018 to 31 December 2019. If the NOC Certificate of Capability is not confirmed by the deadline set to 31 December 2019, or if the team quota place is declined by the NOC, the team quota place will be reallocated according to the rules. The deadline for reallocation of team quota places is set to February 17th. 

The Certificate of Capability that must be provided by the National Federations to the FEI for each rider and horse that are nominated to participate in the Olympic Games confirms the Minimum Eligibility Requirements as laid down in the FEI Regulations for equestrian events at the Olympic Games. It confirms that the riders and the horses have the necessary experience and ability to participate at the required standard. 

A number of selected FEI events in the period running from 1 January 2019 until (and including) 1 June 2020 also give horses and riders the opportunity to meet the Minimum Eligibility Requirements. For the list of 2020 MER events, click here. 

In addition to the team quota places, 15 individual spots have been distributed to National Olympic Committees (NOCs) – with a maximum of one rider with one horse each per NOC – through the FEI Olympic Ranking. The FEI Olympic Ranking is limited to the best 15 results per horse-and-rider combination in ranking competitions within the period from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019. 

In Group A (North Western Europe), Emil Hallundbaek has secured one spot for Denmark as has Geir Gulliksen for Norway. In Group B (South Western Europe), Emanuele Gaudiano has secured Italy a spot as has Luciana Diniz for Portugal. Kristaps Neretnieks was the best in Group C (Central & Eastern Europe; Central Asia) for Latvia, followed by Wojciech Wojcianiec for Poland while in Group F (Middle East and Africa) the two spots have gone to Syria and Jordan after Ahmed Saber Hamcho and Ibrahim Hani Bisharat topped the ranking. In Group G (South East Asia, Oceania), Jasmine Chen secured a place for Chinese Taipei and Mathilda Karlsson for Sri Lanka. In Group D & E, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Canada and Chile have one individual spot each following the overall individual classification at the 2019 Pan-American Games. Furthermore, the NOC of the best ranked rider from the overall FEI Olympic Ranking, excluding the NOCs qualified above, gets a spot – which means Spain can send one horse-and-rider combination as Eduardo Alvarez Aznar ranks fourth after Emanuele Gaudiano (ITA), Luciana Diniz (POR) and Emilio Bicocchi (ITA). Click here for all the group rankings.