Growing up as a sports mad child, I have been obsessed with the Olympics as long as I can remember – I still vividly recall watching Kieren Perkins win gold in the 1500m at Barcelona in 1992 (I was only 7 years old…).
During the 2000 Sydney Olympics I was lucky enough to have tickets to an event every single day of the entire games – it was such an amazing time. I was completely hooked by the whole Olympic experience and massively inspired by my uncle who was a volunteer at the games to follow in his footsteps and one day be at an Olympics myself...and here I am, less than a year out from a dream I have been chasing for 15 years.
The Rio 2016 Olympic Equestrian Test Event was held from the 7th - 9th August at the Deodoro Equestrian Centre, about 45mins northwest of central Rio de Janerio. The “Aquece Rio” (“Warm up Rio” in Portuguese) International Horse Trials CIC** was originally scheduled to host international horses but due to quarantine and cost concerns from numerous National Federations (NFs) only local horses competed. This didn’t seem to detract from the running of the event as it allowed for the NFs to attend meetings, ask questions and get a good feel for the place without having to worry about looking after horses and riders. From my understanding a similar scenario played out during the test event for Sydney 2000.
My journey to Rio started at the World Equestrian Games in France last year when I was introduced to the Veterinary Services Manager for Rio 2016, Juliana Freitas. Previously the Brazilian eventing team vet, Juliana has the enormous task of planning, arranging and executing every aspect of veterinary care associated with the games. She was kind enough to invite me to be a part of the veterinary team that she is creating and I of course jumped at the opportunity.
I arrived in Rio six days out from the start of the event after a marathon flight from Sydney via Auckland and Santiago. After successfully negotiating a sensible price for my taxi ride from the airport to my apartment in Ipanema (starting price will be around the 120Reals but you shouldn’t really pay anything more than about 70Reals – I payed 55Reals) I went straight to bed as I had an early morning start.
My first day consisted of the volunteer orientation day at the venue. This involved collecting my accreditation (in Portuguese), fitting of my uniform (in Portuguese) and then a two hour “Welcome to the Olympic Family” orientation seminar (in Portuguese)… Needless to say my Portuguese is absolutely rubbish but thankfully my slightly less rubbish French and Spanish allowed me to get the main gist of the presentation. After a tour of the venue we split up into our different departments and I was introduced to the rest of the vet team for the test event.
The veterinary team for the test event was surprising large compared to what we had for the WEG test event in 2013 and for what we would usually have for a CCI**. The core of the team was comprised of 11 highly experienced FEI treating vets from all over Brazil (plus a random Aussie bloke…)
The veterinary clinic, facilities and equipment for the test event were absolutely fantastic (slightly OTT, but hey, it’s the Olympics); way better that what we had for the actual event at the 2014 World Equestrian Games in France, and it was only temporary. Rio 2016 is building a brand new fully functional equine hospital with surgical facilities on site. It will have every veterinary facility and diagnostic tool you could ever want ready for the Games next year. It is 75% built already and looks amazing – spacious, well designed and very functional – a true legacy for equine veterinary medicine and surgery in Brazil.
The temporary vet clinic (left) and the almost completed permanent vet clinic (right)
The best way to describe the venue is - for our Australian readers at least - to imagine the Sydney International Equestrian Centre located in the middle of a massive army base surrounded by favelas (slums/shanty towns) that is in need of some TLC. Originally built, and built well, for the 2007 Pan American Games the Equestrian Centre was hardly used again until being given a facelift for the 2011 World Military Games (yes, apparently that’s a thing…) and once again, since that time has been hardly used.
The layout of the venue is great and the infrastructure is very good, it just needs another facelift. And that is exactly what it’s getting; the main arena and first of three warm up arenas have been resurfaced to the highest specification, the stables are in the process of all being renovated and the cross country is well on its way to being a fantastic track for next year.
Rio 2016 in association with the FEI have got the best of the best from all over the world involved and seem to be sparing no expense in ensuring the venue is up to scratch for next year. From talking to a bunch of the NFs that were present at the test event they all seemed pretty impressed with the venue and all seemed fairly assured that everything will be fine for next year.
Main arena looking pretty lonesome during warm up, but come next year it will be over flowing along with three other similar sized temporary stands
With the main warm up arena surrounded by eucalyptus trees hopefully the Aussie team will feel right at home
FEI footing technician testing the physical properties of the main arena to ensure it is performing to the highest standards
I’m not sure what I was expecting when I first set out to walk the cross country course, but what I saw was suitably impressive. The course was firm (similar to Adelaide), intensely green and well manicured reminding me of the high goal polo fields in Florida. I am far from an authority on footing, but all the reports from those who are were very positive. Designed by Pierre Michelet and built by the Willis Brothers (of Badminton fame) the course for the event certainly looked great and was definitely a solid 2* challenge. The combination of Pierre and the boys surely bodes well for a spectacular course next year.
On the Thursday before the event and on the afternoon after cross country the entire cross country team (vets, jump judges, sector stewards, control etc etc) ran through numerous rehearsals and scenarios. It truly was a “test” event and it was great to be able to practice veterinary situations over and over again to make sure we are as slick and professional as possible – because come next year the entire world is watching and it is us, the vets, who have the important responsibility of ensuring the welfare of the horses competing. Our vet services manager certainly put us under the pump with some very challenging veterinary scenarios out on cross country, as well as simultaneous scenarios that stretched out capabilities and resources to the limit, but I am very proud to say that the vet team coped well and did a stellar job.
Veterinary cross country briefing lead by Veterinary Services Manager Juliana Freitas (right of picture, glasses, brown hair)
Members of the vet team ready to go out onto cross country with their emergency vet bags
Cross country rehearsal – quad bikes replacing horses
Testing the screens and the newly imported horse ambulance with winch and horse slide during one of our veterinary scenario rehearsals
More to come from the Rio Test Event - in Part 2 Chris tells us about Quarantine, Transport, Safety and Security .............
