Federation Equestre Internationale News 6 December 2001

CHILDREN’S WORLD JUMPING FINAL

The Final of the 2001 FEI Children’s International Jumping Series was organised by Mr Eugene Mische (USA) and was held on the show grounds at Wellington Equestrian Centre, West Palm Beach, Florida (USA) from 28 November to 2 December.

Twenty-eight children aged between 12 and 14 years from twelve countries – FRA, BEL USA, ARG, RSA, LTU, RUS KSA, COL, BRA, JPN, MEX - competed for the awards. All participants took part in two qualifying competitions to establish the sixteen riders for the Final.

The Final produced an exciting jump-off with four riders clear in the first round – three American and one French.

Dottie Grubb (USA) riding Pistol Pete completed the jump-off with a clear round six seconds faster than the second placed rider Joshua Vanderveen (USA) on Bull Run Glen Ridge. Third and fourth places went to Elise Lesage (FRA) and Kristen Vanderveen (USA) respectively.

Dottie Grubb is the daughter of former international show jumping riders Michelle and Tim Grubb (USA)

World-renowned courses designer Mr Steve Stephens (USA) designed the courses.

The 2002 Final will be held in Bogota (COL), in December 2002.

FEI/BCM WORLD DRESSAGE RIDERS RANKINGS

Ulla Salzgeber is still in the lead with 79.645 points. She finished 8th in the Kür in Stuttgart with her new horse Ebor.

Lars Petersen (DEN) is second, with an increased total of 77.892 points, thanks to his excellent results in Stuttgart two weeks ago where he won the Kür with a total of 82.26% and this week-end in Stockholm where he won both the Grand Prix and the Kür with a total of 82.71 on his impressive Blue Horse Cavan.

Lisa Wilcox (USA) and Gonnelien Rothenberger exchange places and are now respectively 7th and 8th.

The Russian rider Elena Sidneva makes a remarkable progression from 19th to 12th place with a total of 72.808 points. In the last month, she was second in the Grand Prix and 4th in the Kür in Stockholm, 5th in the Kür in Berlin and won the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Special of Stadl-Paura in Austria.

WORLD CUP DRIVING: CHESTER IN THE LEAD

Chester Weber (USA) won the 2nd competition of the FEI World Cup Driving held at the Stockholm Horse Show from 30 November to 2 December 2001.

Weber finished the summer season in sixth place on the worldwide Top Drivers list. This ranking secured his position as one of the ten four-in-hand drivers qualified to compete at eight indoor World Cup events throughout the winter season. Each of the ten qualified drivers, plus one wild card driver, will compete in four of the eight events and will accumulate points over the course of the series. With a win at Stockholm and a third place finish at Stuttgart, Chester currently has 15 points toward the World Cup Championship and is in the lead.

The course at each indoor World Cup competition consists of two marathon-type obstacles (with up to five gates each), a bridge and about ten cone-type obstacles. Each driver's best four results over the course of the series will count, and the driver with the most points will be declared the World Cup Champion.

HRH THE PRINCE PHILIP TO RECEIVE FIRST FEI AWARD

The “FEI Award for Dedicated and Distinguished Services to Equestrian Sport” was established by the Executive Board and the Bureau early this year.

The members were in agreement that this special Award would not be given as a matter of course but only when a deserving candidate had been identified. The winners of this high honour will receive a crystal trophy designed by Tiffany & Co and their names will be inscribed on a plaque to be sited in the FEI headquarters in Lausanne (SUI).

At its last meeting in April the Bureau unanimously decided that the first to be selected to receive the Award should be HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, FEI President from 1964 to 1986, now FEI Honorary President.

After becoming FEI President in 1964, Prince Philip was the instigator of the Nations Cup Series which still remains one of the highlights of the sport today. In 1969, he formed a committee to study the introduction of Driving in the FEI. It became the fourth FEI discipline one year later. In 1979 The Prince strongly supported the introduction of the World Cup Series.

In the early seventies he took up Four-in-Hand Driving and competed in six World and three European Championships. The Prince placed sixth individually in the 1982 World Championships and was a member of the British gold medal team at the 1980 World Championships and a member of the British bronze medal teams at the 1978, 1982 and 1984 World Championships.

At the present time, Prince Philip still has a keen interest in equestrian sports and is, among others, a Founder Member of the British Equestrian Centre, Member of Horse Driving Trials Association, Honorary Member of the British Horse Society, USA Equestrian, formerly the American Horse Shows Association (AHSA) and the Canadian Horse Cutting Association.

The FEI Award for Dedicated and Distinguished Services to Equestrian Sport will be presented to HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, by HRH The Infanta Doña Pilar de Borbón on the opening day of the CSI-W Olympia held from 19 through 23 December 2001 in London (GBR).

2001 FEI WORLD DRESSAGE CHALLENGE SUPPORTED BY PSI

The 2001 FEI World Dressage Challenge supported by PSI is over. After John Haig and Samsung, the 2001 edition saw the arrival of our new sponsor, PSI (Performance Sales International). Although terrorist and military conflicts in some part of the world perturbed this edition - competitions cancelled, judges replaced at the last minute; postponement of Group IV (GRE; KAZ, UAE, IND, ISR) until spring 2002 - the Dressage Challenge 2001 established a record of participation: 10 Groups and 676 riders.

Without counting the postponed Group IV, 38 countries in total took part in the FEI World Dressage Challenge supported by PSI this year.

The statistics show the participation of 676 riders against 523 in 2000 divided as follows: 123 at St. Georges level (131 in 2000), 176 at Advanced level (155 in 2000) and 257 at Novice level (237 in 2000). 120 Children against 79 in 2000 entered the Children’s Competition.

Qualified Riders FOR THE FEI Waldfried Euro Future Cup FINAL in dressage

After four qualifying events, Münster (GER) 25 - 28 January, St Nizier (FRA) 24 - 27 May, Hickstead (GBR) 25 - 29 July, and Wanroij (NED) 01 - 04 November, twelve riders have qualified for the FEI Waldfried Euro Future Cup Final, which will take place in Frankfurt (GER) from 14 - 16 December 2001. In terms of the rules, a maximum of three riders per National Federation may participate in the Final.



1. Christian Ritter (GER) 48 points

1. Nicola Giesen (GER) 48 points

3. Joyce Heultink (NED) 37 points

4. Julia-Katharina von Platen (GER) 32 points

replaced by Katja Weisbrod (GER) 27 points

5. Charlotte Edmunds (GBR) 30 points

6. Petra van Esch (NED) 23 points

7. Caroline Meriaux (FRA) 20 points

8. Thalmar Zwelstra (NED) 15 points

9. Nina Stadlinger (AUT) 12 points

9. Sabine Filatieff (FRA) 12 points

replaced by Barbara Klinger (FRA) 10 points

11. Elodie Sarrazin (FRA) 11 points

12. Sarah Carter (GBR) 10 points

first QUADRILLE competition at grand prix level

The first Grand Prix Quadrille was organized in the frame of CSI-A Maastricht from 29 November to 2 December. The quadrilles were judged by 6 judges from 3 countries. The Gestion Team, composed of Olympic champion Anky van Grunsven/Kir Royal, Ellen Bontje/Whoopi, Tineke Bartels/Hazz and Imke Schellekens-Bartels/Barbria, won the competition with a average score of 74.85%, followed by Team Great Britain with 70.58% and team Exagon with 69.85%.

Anky van Grunsven won the individual standings, which were based on the added percentages in the Grand Prix, the Kür and the Quadrille.

The new competition was enthusiastically welcomed by 5000 spectators.

IN MEMORIAM

Arthur Blickenstorfer (SUI), former Swiss Nations Cup rider, died recently following health problems. He was 67 years old. He rode for Switzerland in 58 Nations Cups and was a member of four winning teams. He competed in the Mexico Olympic Games in 1968 riding Marianka and placed 13th.

Brigadier Henrique Callado (POR), former Olympic rider, passed away on 12 November. He was 81 years old. Brigadier Callado rode for Portugal at five Olympic Games (London 1948, Helsinki 1952, Stockholm 1956 where he placed 7th individual, Rome 1960 and Tokyo 1964). From 1948 to 1980, he also competed at 55 Nations Cups and won nine of them. He was National Champion in 1958.

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