London 2012 | The Greatest Eventing Show On Earth

Mark Todd | One Second Away From Gold After Cross Country

The Cross Country Phase of the London 2012 Olympic Eventing competition will surely go down as one of the greatest events the sport has ever seen, and probably the most exciting day the London Games is likely to witness. 74 horses jumped out of the start box, and fifteen did not make it through to the finish, a number of which surprised everyone. Four nations held firm, to maintain team scores that have a chance of putting their team on the podium, Great Britain, Germany, New Zealand & Sweden.

Greenwich - Awash With Challenges

Hyde Park | More Suitable

It's no secret that the ticketing policy for London 2012 has been wholly unpopular, across all the sporting disciplines, and I have previously expressed my opinion that the venue chosen for the eventing, Greenwich Park, is unsuitable due to the pint-size nature of the venue and therefore it's ability to satisfy anywhere near the demand there would be for the event.

Pippa Cuckson recently blogged about the ticketing allocations for the equestrian events, noting some half a million people expressed interest in the tickets for the horsey olympics. I've also just listened to a very interesting interview on the Eventing Radio Show with Sue Benson, the London 2012 course designer, who throughout the interview describes almost every part of her job relating the Greenwich venue as 'a challenge'. I'd love to be a fly on the wall in the LOCOG PR office when that interview gets mentioned in internal dispatches.

London 2012: Alternative Venues For Eventing

Greenwich Park

First let me just reiterate that my reservations over Greenwich as the venue for the Olympic 3-day-event venue stem from the size, location and status of the Park, and it's ability to support the size of audience that this event is capable of attracting in this country.(see earlier post) I'm sure the venue can host a three day event, but probably not a championship 4 star one.

With this in mind I wanted to briefly outline other, more suitable, venues. When suggesting these venues I am ignoring any potential opposition or other reasons why they couldn't be used, making suggestions purely based on a desire to make the event as good as, if not better than, our other 4 star 3 day events.

London 2012: Eventing - The Greenwich Venue

Greenwich Park | London 2012 3-Day-Event Site

We're less than 2 years away from The London Olympics and ever since the announcement of the venue for equestrian disciplines would be Greenwich Park, the organisers have come under intense criticism, and gone all out on a charm offensive in their attempt to woo the general public, press, eventing fraternity, and local residents.

The Greenwich site has become controversial for a number of reasons primarily because it is a world heritage site, and a local residents committee has long been campaigning for the equestrian events to be moved elsewhere, gathering over 12,000 signatures by all accounts. You can see the logic behind holding the event here, in as much as it is undulating parkland (albeit more formal parkland), and it is close to the rest of the olympics so the desire of 'keeping all the athletes together in an athlete's village' can be met.