Alec Lochore, FEI Technical Delegate at Rio 2016
Tokyo 2020 was high on the agenda at the 2019 FEI General Assembly in Moscow in November
FEI President Ingmar De Vos commented in his opening address that 28 nations have already secured their team slot for the Games, with individual quota places still to be filled, and he congratulated Australia, Brazil, Great Britain, Ireland, Germany, Sweden and the USA, who will join host nation Japan with teams in all three Olympic disciplines.
He also singled out Ireland for special mention for qualifying a Dressage team for the first time at the Olympics, as well as first timers Thailand and China, who have qualified Eventing teams for Tokyo while the Tokyo 2020 Equestrian Sport Manager Haruta Yasuhiko, Eventing Competition Manager Alec Lochore and Jumping Competition Manager Cesar Hirsch gave delegates a progress report on preparations for next year’s Olympic and Paralympic Games in the Japanese capital.
Alec, who was also the Eventing Manager at the London 2012 Olympic Games and FEI Technical Delegate at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, was responsible for the planning and delivery of the Test Event in August 2019 and at the General Assembly he gave an overview of how work on the venues is well on track at both the Equestrian Park at Baji Koen and the Sea Forest Cross Country site and how enthusiasm for the equestrian disciplines is building towards Tokyo 2020
Alec’s report outlines how 3.9 million tickets had already been sold for the Games with equestrian sports proving popular, there were 200,000 applications for the 80,000 volunteer positions available and that the main Equestrian Park facility at Baji Koen will be operational for four weeks during the Olympic Games
Our favourite detail however is that “from the top of the cross country course (at Sea Forest), you can see the athletes’ bedroom windows – just not inside them …….”
You can watch Alec’s presentation in the video starting at the 58 minute mark - well worth a watch
