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Horse dancing fiasco
Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2012 10:07 pm
by Gob
''YOU have to love keeping it in the family!'' pronounced Lyndal Oatley when she heard her cousin Kristy was joining her on the Australian Olympic equestrian team to compete in London.
But, in the world of dressage, the love didn't spread far at all.
Instead, the selection of the two Oatleys - granddaughters of the billionaire Bob Oatley, a sponsor of grand prix events in the sport in Australia - has exposed bitter tensions at the perceived influence of wealth and patronage in the sport.
Kristy Oatley gained her spot at the expense of Hayley Beresford under a discretionary selection process. Yet, only two weeks ago, Beresford was ranked 111th in the world, well ahead of Oatley's ranking of 283, as judged by the Federation Equestre Internationale. Both women represented Australia in Beijing.
Then, last Thursday Beresford confirmed form, too, was on her side, beating Kristy Oatley in Aachen in Germany - only hours before the Court of Arbitration in Sport, sitting in Sydney, closed the final legal door to her Olympic dream. She finished the event in tears.
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''I am deeply devastated and at this moment cannot find the words to explain the selection process,'' she said on Facebook.
Beresford last night told the Herald Lyndal was clearly the best rider but that selectors were biased towards Kristy.
Other riders are speaking out, claiming the selection process was altered to favour Kristy Oatley, who was added to the shadow Olympic team after it had been finalised despite not having competed for nearly two years. Another change allowed riders to use a second horse in London.
The top-ranked Australian dressage rider Heath Ryan, who did not seek Olympic selection for London to allow his wife Rozzie to participate, said he found the changes ''very disturbing''.
''I am very concerned the changes were made by power and money to favour the wealthiest individuals. You cannot change Olympic [selection] criteria like that,'' he said.
''There are people out there who have dreams of riding for their country but if this is the way Equestrian Australia is going to conduct itself then really it is only [a sport] for the rich.''
A grand prix judge, Berni Saunders, said the sporting community was shocked by the decision. ''Everybody is absolutely horrified,'' she said. ''It would be like Cathy Freeman having two years off running and then deciding a few months before the Olympics 'I'd like to have a go'.''
Even so, Beresford praised the Oatley family for their contribution to Australian dressage. ''The problem lies in the selection policy - discretion has no place in sport,'' she said. Beresford said the dispute had ''caused a terrible, terrible atmosphere within the team''.
The chairman of Equestrian Australia, Paul Cargill, said it was now time for the ''selected athletes to get on with their job and do their talking where it counts''.
http://www.smh.com.au/olympics/news-lon ... l#comments
Re: Horse dancing fiasco
Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2012 10:11 pm
by rubato
Such a pity when dressage has such a long tradition of egalitarianism and fair play. What next? Poor barrio kids being shut out of the sailing events? Fencing being taken over by the idle classes?
yrs,
rubato
* snort
Let me explain it for you. Dressage horses at the Olympic level are fucking expensive creatures; hundreds of thousands of dollars, each. And a lot of the competition is the horse, not the rider.
My wife rides dressage so we have gone to a number of competitions over the years and there is nothing even slightly 'fair' about who gets the good horses.
Re: Horse dancing fiasco
Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2012 11:34 pm
by Gob
Let me explain it to you, this was unfair, and is worthy of debate.
Your wife seems to do a great many things, which must be all down to that excessive affluence which you never boast about I'm assuming.
Re: Horse dancing fiasco
Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2012 11:50 pm
by Lord Jim
I guess rube either didn't read the OP or if he did, didn't understand it, (either is easily possible in his case) because if he had, he would know that the lady who was passed over presumably had all the resources she needed to compete effectively, since she had been doing so for years, (including at the Bejing Olympics) and both had a higher ranking and had recently defeated the woman who was selected instead.
(Rube may not know what affluent means, but he should know what effluent means, since he dumps so much of it on this board)
Re: Horse dancing fiasco
Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 1:32 am
by BoSoxGal
I got the sense that his point was it's a fight between two spoiled rich gals.
Which doesn't interest me much.
Re: Horse dancing fiasco
Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 3:43 am
by rubato
Incompetent, ignorant, children.
This is not a world you know anything about. "Fairness" was never a part of it and pretending that it is just shows you haven't a clue.
yrs,
rubato
Re: Horse dancing fiasco
Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 3:45 am
by Gob
rubato wrote:Incompetent, ignorant, children.
This is not a world you know anything about. "Fairness" was never a part of it and pretending that it is just shows you haven't a clue.
yrs,
rubato
Fairness was never a part of what?
PS. You need to work on your punctuation.
Re: Horse dancing fiasco
Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 2:35 pm
by Grim Reaper
rubato wrote:Let me explain it for you. Dressage horses at the Olympic level are fucking expensive creatures; hundreds of thousands of dollars, each. And a lot of the competition is the horse, not the rider.
Right. And both individuals have competed at the Olympics before. So being able to afford to compete was not the problem.
Re: Horse dancing fiasco
Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 2:43 pm
by dgs49
One of the reasons why we humans enjoy sports is because LIFE is unfair. In sports, at least theoretically, one can succeed based on a combination of native talent (or physical attributes) and hard work, which is as fair as anything can be in life.
When a major sporting event is compromised by neptism and favoritism, it is a reason for extraordinary action to overcome it. Even when the competitors are "rich."
Re: Horse dancing fiasco
Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 2:56 pm
by Big RR
I'd be interested in seeing the selections committee's side of the controversy; it does appear to smack of corruption, but then when a team is being selected one does not always select the best all around performers. In womens gymnastics (the only olympic sport in which I have had any familiarity with the national organization) I have seen several times where the better all around gymnasts were passed over in favor of a less-talented athlete who had a great single event (like a vault). I have no idea if equestrian events are like this (or even if this is just a selection for a single event), but I do recall seeing some equestrian competitions on TV where the team competes in several eventsand the score is totalled, so it's possible that the selection took that into account. Also, I think everyone competes with their own horse(s), so might the selection have been made to assure her horse(s) was/were available for others to ride in different events? It may well be the influence of big money in the sport, but I'd be intersted to hear th other side of the story.
Re: Horse dancing fiasco
Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 2:58 pm
by Lord Jim
Grim Reaper wrote:rubato wrote:Let me explain it for you. Dressage horses at the Olympic level are fucking expensive creatures; hundreds of thousands of dollars, each. And a lot of the competition is the horse, not the rider.
Right. And both individuals have competed at the Olympics before. So being able to afford to compete was not the problem.
I made that point as well; it just does not seem to be sinking in....
His second response basically confirms the conclusion I reached based on his first response; he either hasn't read the article, or if he has, he doesn't understand it. Those are the only two explanations I can come up with to explain why he keeps making a "point" which is completely irrelevant to the case at hand....
Re: Horse dancing fiasco
Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 12:07 am
by rubato
Maybe Horace Greeley will rise from the grave to write a story about some 'poor but honest' ragged street urchin whose dream is to compete in the Olympic Dressage Team.
yrs,
rubato
Re: Horse dancing fiasco
Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 12:19 am
by Gob
rubato wrote:Maybe Horace Greeley will rise from the grave to write a story about some 'poor but honest' ragged street urchin whose dream is to compete in the Olympic Dressage Team.
yrs,
rubato
Maybe, but seeing as it's totally irrelevant to anything being discussed here, who cares? Strawman.
Re: Horse dancing fiasco
Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 12:27 am
by Rick
Re: Horse dancing fiasco
Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 12:44 am
by Lord Jim
LMAO
Apparently The idiot
still hasn't read and/or understood the article....
Rube, you're not back on the sauce again are you?
Re: Horse dancing fiasco
Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 2:50 am
by Jarlaxle
Rube is as well-armored against facts as an M1 Abrams is against rifle fire.
What do you figure he's on, Jim? Gin? Wine? Scotch? Beer? Purell?
Re: Horse dancing fiasco
Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 9:41 am
by The Hen
''YOU have to love keeping it in the family!'' pronounced Lyndal Oatley when she heard her cousin Kristy was joining her on the Australian Olympic equestrian team to compete in London.
The top-ranked Australian dressage rider Heath Ryan said he found the changes ''very disturbing''.
''I am very concerned the changes were made by power and money to favour the wealthiest individuals. You cannot change Olympic [selection] criteria like that,'' he said.
It will be interesting to hear their explanation of why the selectors felt it necessary to change the selection criteria for the competitors.