THE venue for equestrian sport at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games is expected to be confirmed next week. Speaking at the FEI Sports Forum this week in Lausanne, Switzerland, FEI President Ingmar De Vos said the organising committee are looking at a number of factors for the venue, such as the climate and costs.

“The venue will be decided soon and it’s all open. We think there is an executive board meeting of the IOC [International Olympic Committee] on April 9th so we believe that hopefully by then the master plan, the venue master plan, will be finalised, and that we will know where we will go,” De Vos said.

“We are in permanent contact with the Los Angeles organising committee about this - everything’s going in the right direction, but we are under a non-disclosure agreement so we cannot say anything. The organising committee want… and this is very clear instruction also from the IOC - that we need to be as cost efficient as possible, which means that there are maybe some other options that do not necessarily need a remote Olympic Village. The organising committee is finalising the cost calculations of the different possibilities.”

Eventing’s inclusion at the LA Games will come down to all three phases running at the same venue as the pure show jumping and dressage. This decision is also expected to be made on April 9th.

LA qualification

FEI Deputy Legal Director, Irish woman Áine Power, took participants through the proposed qualification framework for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympics Games, and discipline directors each presented proposed changes to their respective disciplines.

Key elements highlighted during the session were the proposed alteration of the minimum age for eventing horses to nine years (from eight).

In jumping, it was proposed seven quota places (two more than for Paris 2024) be available from the FEI Jumping World Championships 2026 and no quota places from the Longines League of Nations Finals 2026 and 2027. That Barcelona final in 2022 and 2023 had a qualifying place for Paris 2024 up for grabs. The FEI said the proposal is being made to ensure equal opportunities for all and give nations outside of Europe more chances to use this pathway. The qualification process for LA 2028 will be voted on at the 2025 FEI General Assembly in November. The qualification period will start at next year’s FEI World Championships in Aachen and will run through to December 31st 2027.

Brisbane 2032

The FEI President highlighted the recent announcement made by the Organising Committee for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games of Toowoomba as the equestrian venue. This is an existing facility about 78 miles west of the centre of Brisbane.

This has not yet been finalised and the FEI will conduct a venue review in May, ahead of the IOC Coordination Commission visit, with a key focus on ensuring that biosecurity and horse transportation measures do not hinder equine travel to the Games. At this stage this is only a venue proposal and not a final decision.