Hickey pledges 'three-day' support

EQUESTRIAN: The president of the Irish Olympic Committee has pledged to fight for the retention of three-day eventing as an Olympic sport.

"I'm certainly going to go in batting to make sure that eventing is retained," Hickey said, responding to the recent announcement that the Olympic programme commission had recommended the sport's removal from the Olympic movement after Athens 2004.

"I expect Europe will have a united front on it as the Europeans have a very strong tradition in equestrian sports", Hickey said, "and I'm sure I will be inundated by my colleagues lobbying me."

Italy's Mario Pescante is president of the European OC and, as the Italian sports minister, is particularly powerful. The Irish sport horse has topped the world studbook rankings in three-day eventing for the past seven years and, with Italy's longstanding reputation as one of the top market places for Irish-bred horses, Pescante's support for the bid would be a valuable weapon.

One of the chief reasons behind the recommendation, which is due to be either ratified or rejected at a full IOC session at the end of November, is the cost of staging the three-day event. Spain's Infanta Dona Pilar de Bourbon, in her role as president of the International Equestrian Federation, is aware that expenditure has been too high.

The cross-country course at Garrapilos, which will also be used for the driving marathon and the endurance during these seven-discipline games, cost a staggering €3 million to build, with the total budget for the fixture soaring to €23 million. The Infanta described these costings as "scandalous, and I repeat, scandalous".

"Eventing cannot allow the costs to escalate like this. It has to reduce its expectations. We are going to contest this, but it should be remembered that it's not a decision, it's just a recommendation."

Hickey is keen that eventing should not be thrown out of the Olympics "before Ireland wins a medal", but there are world medals to be aimed at before then in Jerez, where Olympic qualification is also an issue.

The quartet staking a claim to Ireland's place on the Athens three-day event startlist are Jane O'Flynn, Eric Smiley, Sasha Harrison and Patricia Donegan, with Vina Buller and Susan Shortt running as individuals. O'Flynn, Smiley and Buller will all be appearing in the dressage arena today.

But there was less encouraging news for the show jumpers, who will be bidding for world gold to add to the European title claimed in Holland last summer.

Jessica Kurten, who was part of the victorious European championship team, withdrew from the world games yesterday following injury to her horse Paavo N en route back from the big Canadian fixture in Spruce Meadows. This means that Irish chef d'equipe Tommy Wade now has no reserve, leaving the quartet of Peter Charles, Dermott Lennon, Cian O'Connor and Kevin Babington to fly the flag.