With the results of the Pan American Games held this past weekend, the Olympic qualifiers for the Show Jumping teams are officially closed. The teams that will participate in the next Olympics, scheduled for August 2024, are: Saudi Arabia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, United Arab Emirates, France, Germany, Japan, England, Ireland, Israel, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, U.S.
We spoke with Kevin Staut, who qualified for France along with Scuderia 1918 Viking d’la Rousserie and Visconti du Telman.
The Olympics are only a few months away. And, as we all know, they will be held in Paris, France. How do you feel about that?
It’s a huge motivation! As the organizing country we are already qualified; this is something less to do before the event, but this doesn’t mean that we don’t have to prepare well.
And for sure, when you will be there you will have an extra pressure for all French athletes…
Yes. All the French Federations have to do well, and the equestrian sport is very important in France, so we have to be competitive. We have a plan! This doesn’t mean that it will work but… we have one! (Laughs)
Can you say something about it?
We want to take riders that already have experience in big events like that, at least two Olympics, because we know that in all Championships there is a lot of pressure, but the Olympics spirit brings it to a different level.
We have to keep a strong team spirit until the end. We have to be one. Everybody can bring his own experience and his own positive vibes to help the others.
And there are the new rules…
It will be really really complicated, every small mistake will make a huge difference.
What about the horses?
With horses we know we can have many different surprises: some injuries or the same horses in great shape months before could be not competitive close to the event. So, we are aware that we are not able to run everywhere. We need to do big shows for sure, but without “burning” everything before the Olympics.
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