Just fwiw, my “expertise” mostly stems from watching the Olympics in 2021 and reading commentary from people who knew better at the time. I had a very vague interest in the sport before then (because of my aforementioned experience with 3 out of the 5 disciplines), but never really took it anywhere because of the horses. I’m not really any serious sort of expert on it. So take anything I say as third-hand commentary from someone with a casual interest in the subject.
Anyway, unlike the dedicated equestrian events, MP participants get randomly assigned a horse to ride and given just 20 minutes to become acquainted with the horse before the jumping. This is meant to simulate the idea of the MP being about a captured soldier escaping captivity and grabbing a horse he can find to ride away on. But it does mean that if you randomly get assigned an uncooperative horse, or just one that doesn’t suit you personally…problems can arise. That’s what happened to a German competitor in 2021. Here’s a video of it.
Her coach was banned from the Olympics for that little tap you can see at 0:47, which was described as a violent punch and animal abuse. (Seems excessive to me, and like it was just so they could say they had done something after how poorly the horse seemed to have been treated in general. But I dunno, I’m not really a horse person to have the relevant expertise.) I went on some MP and equestrian pages to read what they had to say, and apparently the horse also refused to behave properly for the male pentathlete the day (or days? I forget the timeline) before. That said, consensus also seemed to be that she did not help herself by being so emotional and with some poor-quality riding, sending the horse mixed signals, etc. That she really epitomised that idea that pentathletes basically ignore the horse riding aspect. Still, her treatment of the horse, as well as the horse’s impact on her ability to compete collectively caused international outrage, which is what led the IUPM to begin investigating new options.
Incidentally, she’s competing again this year, under her married name of Annika Zillekens. She’s only done the first round of the fencing so far, and won 17 out of 35 bouts, putting her right in the middle of the rankings. A lot worse than last Olympics, where she was a serious medal contender before the horse.
Great write-up thank you! I can see the theory behind why and how horse riding was included, but that example you brought up is a great illustration of why it should probably be removed. It’s bad for the horses, it makes the events more random and it prevents lots of people from taking up the sport. It’s time for it to go.
Just fwiw, my “expertise” mostly stems from watching the Olympics in 2021 and reading commentary from people who knew better at the time. I had a very vague interest in the sport before then (because of my aforementioned experience with 3 out of the 5 disciplines), but never really took it anywhere because of the horses. I’m not really any serious sort of expert on it. So take anything I say as third-hand commentary from someone with a casual interest in the subject.
Anyway, unlike the dedicated equestrian events, MP participants get randomly assigned a horse to ride and given just 20 minutes to become acquainted with the horse before the jumping. This is meant to simulate the idea of the MP being about a captured soldier escaping captivity and grabbing a horse he can find to ride away on. But it does mean that if you randomly get assigned an uncooperative horse, or just one that doesn’t suit you personally…problems can arise. That’s what happened to a German competitor in 2021. Here’s a video of it.
Her coach was banned from the Olympics for that little tap you can see at 0:47, which was described as a violent punch and animal abuse. (Seems excessive to me, and like it was just so they could say they had done something after how poorly the horse seemed to have been treated in general. But I dunno, I’m not really a horse person to have the relevant expertise.) I went on some MP and equestrian pages to read what they had to say, and apparently the horse also refused to behave properly for the male pentathlete the day (or days? I forget the timeline) before. That said, consensus also seemed to be that she did not help herself by being so emotional and with some poor-quality riding, sending the horse mixed signals, etc. That she really epitomised that idea that pentathletes basically ignore the horse riding aspect. Still, her treatment of the horse, as well as the horse’s impact on her ability to compete collectively caused international outrage, which is what led the IUPM to begin investigating new options.
Incidentally, she’s competing again this year, under her married name of Annika Zillekens. She’s only done the first round of the fencing so far, and won 17 out of 35 bouts, putting her right in the middle of the rankings. A lot worse than last Olympics, where she was a serious medal contender before the horse.
Great write-up thank you! I can see the theory behind why and how horse riding was included, but that example you brought up is a great illustration of why it should probably be removed. It’s bad for the horses, it makes the events more random and it prevents lots of people from taking up the sport. It’s time for it to go.
Technically, next week is time for it to go 😅
Alright sure 😄