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Hearing
Panel Asks U.S. Olympic Committee To Withdraw Its Decision
Against USA Equestrian
Panel Seeks To Reopen Hearing On The Governance
Of Equestrian Sports
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USA
Equestrian, the national governing body for equestrian sports
in the United States, learned late last Friday that the United
States Olympic Committee was asked earlier last week to revoke
its recent decision adopting the Report and Recommendation of
a USOC hearing panel, and to reopen the hearing on the current
dispute over the governance of equestrian sports.
Last
year, the United States Equestrian Team (USET) asked the USOC
to decertify USA Equestrian as the national governing body for
horse sports in the U.S. After a hearing last fall before a panel
of five USOC board members, the panel recommended that unless
USA Equestrian and USET agree to some new structure for governing
the sport, the position of national governing body would be declared
vacant. The Board of Directors adopted this Report and Recommendation
as the official decision of the USOC on August 2, 2002. After
repeated refusals by the USET to engage in negotiations, USA Equestrian
formally asked that the dispute be resolved in a public hearing
before the American Arbitration Association, as provided by federal
law.
Upon reading the Demand for Arbitration filed by USA Equestrian
on August 30, the USOC hearing panel and the USOC General Counsel's
office have determined that the serious issues raised by USA Equestrian
"should be considered in the first instance by the USOC,
not by arbitrators selected by the AAA." Accordingly, they
have submitted a resolution asking the Board of Directors of the
USOC to withdraw its August 2 decision "as if it had never
been issued." The USOC Board will vote on this request by
mail ballot due on September 25, 2002.
USA
Equestrian is evaluating the proposed resolution and its potential
impact on the pending arbitration and related litigation. A copy
of the resolution can be reviewed on the USA Equestrian web site
at www.equestrian.org/EquestrianGovernance/index.asp.
USA
Equestrian Inc., as the National Equestrian Federation of the
U.S., is the regulatory body for the Olympic and World Championship
sports of dressage, driving, endurance, eventing, reining, show
jumping, and vaulting, as well as 19 other breeds and disciplines
of equestrian competition. As
the country's largest multi-breed organization, the Federation
has over 80,000 members and recognizes more than 2,800 competitions
nationwide each year. It governs all aspects of competition, including
educating and licensing all judges, stewards, and technical delegates
who officiate at these shows.
VISION STATEMENT
The vision of USA Equestrian is to provide leadership for equestrian
sport in the United States of America, promoting the pursuit of
excellence from the grass roots to the Olympic Games, based on
a foundation of fair, safe competition and the welfare of its
horses, and embracing this vision, to be the best national equestrian
federation in the world.
www.equestrian.org
.
