Dispute over places at Paris Olympics

Chile is fighting for its dressage place at the Games this summer, and has lost its one eventing individual slot

- LUCY ELDER

A COUNTRY that lost its individual Olympic dressage place after a different nation was unable to take up a team spot is fighting for its ticket to Paris 2024.

Chile won an individual spot at the 2024 Games by virtue of Svenja Grimm's performance aboard Doctor Rossi at its home 2023 Pan American Games in October. But the country has now been bumped from the slot.

Brazil, which secured an Olympic team dressage place with its silver medal at the Pan American Games, was unable to submit the National Olympic Committee (NOC) certificate of capability by the 8 January deadline (news, 18 January).

This meant Brazil was entitled to an individual place instead, which had to come from within the allocation for FEI Olympic groups D&E (North America & Central and South America), so the FEI gave it the spot previously held by Chile.

"The Chilean NOC, national federation and the athlete [Svenja Grimm] appealed the FEI decision not to allocate an individual quota place to Chile," an FEI spokesperson told H&H.

"The appellants and the FEI agreed to submit the appeal directly to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), with the appeal proceedings to be conducted on an expedited basis.

"The FEI is not in a position to make any additional comment [or] provide any further information while the appeal proceedings are ongoing." The Chilean Olympic committee and Chilean equestrian federation issued a joint statement in March.

They said the FEI recently announced its decision to remove Chile from the individual quota place "that it had legitimately obtained [...] through direct classification at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games, and which had even been officially announced and published by the FEI".

"This decision in our opinion - is not consistent with the rules and regulations of fair play and the principles of Olympic movement," said the statement.