With less than two weeks to go until the AlltechFEI World Equestrian Games, we bring you 20 facts about the Games.
1. There’s not long to wait – the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games get underway on Saturday 23 August.
2. There’s an opening ceremony on the Saturday evening, then the action gets started on Monday 25 August with the first days of dressage, reining and Para-dressage.
3. The competition concludes on Sunday 7 September with the finals of the jumping and driving.
4. TheWorld Equestrian Games – commonly known as ‘WEG’, occur every four years, two years away from the Olympic Games.
5. The Games form the World Championships for all the FEI disciplines. Before the first WEG, in Stockholm in 1990, the championships had been held in different locations.
6. The World Equestrian Games havesubsequently been held in The Hague in 1994, Rome in 1998, Jerez de la Frontera in 2002, Aachen in 2006 and Kentucky in 2010.
7. A total of 632 athletes from 58 nations took part in the last WEG in Kentucky.
8. WEG has grown even more in the past four years, and approximately a thousand athletes from 74 nations are expected to compete in Normandy.
9. Jumping has attracted the largest number of nations – 54 in total – while Endurance is next in line with 48.
10. Australia, Austria, France, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden and the United States have riders in every discipline.
11. There are 12 countries making their WEG debut – Hong Kong, US Virgin Islands, Kazakhstan, Republic of Korea, Latvia, Morocco, Mauritius, Peru, Palestine, Romania, Thailand and Tunisia.
12. Normandy is a very horsey region – it’s home to 93,000 horses with 408 equestrian centres and two National Studs, Le Pin and Saint-Lo.
13. The State-owned Haras du Pin is the venue for the dressage and cross-country phases of eventing.
14. Tickets for eventing are fully sold out.
15. The endurance event is held at the bay of Mont St Michel, an iconic island located just 600 metres from the mainland, which is one of the most recognisable landmarks in France.
16. Caen is the venue for the remaining disciplines with the D’Ornano Stadium home to the opening and closing ceremonies along with dressage, jumping and the jumping phase of eventing.
17.Para-dressage and driving will take place at the Prairie Racecourse in city centre while vaulting and reining will take place at the Zenith indoor arena and exhibition centre.
18. A total of 27 sets of medals will be handed out during two weeks.
19. There will be around 3,000 volunteers at the Games.
20. Around 500,000 spectators will attend.