A delegation of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), led by its Co-ordination Commission Chairman, Mr. Hein Verbruggen visited Hong Kong in August and was impressed by the overall progress on planning and building the facilities for the 2008 Olympic Games Equestrian Events.

The IOC delegation held a series of meetings with various stakeholders of the Events, including the Equestrian Committee, the Hong Kong Jockey Club a well as the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China. Delegation members received detailed briefings on venue construction and different functional areas such as security control, accommodation, quarantine and transportation arrangements.

Mr. Verbruggen commended the parties involved on their coordinated efforts for the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Equestrian Events to be held in two different venues in Hong Kong – Sha Tin and North District.

On veterinary and quarantine services, a member of the delegation, Ms. Catrin Norinder, who represents the International Equestrian Federation (FEI), spoke highly of the professional arrangements carried out by government agencies.

“The sport of equestrian is a game involving the athletes as well as horses and keeping a healthy and safe competition environment for both of them is vital. I have full confidence in the plans made in Hong Kong in this aspect,” she said.

According to Mr. Lam Woon-kwong, who heads up the Hong Kong Equestrian Events Company, the Olympic Games Equestrian Events will comprise of three disciplines – dressage, show jumping and eventing – involving up to 220 horses. Six sets of medals will be competed for in the three disciplines’ individual and team events.

“Compared with jumping and dressage, the cross-country test in eventing is more difficult and demanding. For audiences the cross-country test is the most interesting, but for us it is the most intricate in terms of arrangement. Therefore, the event requires thorough preparation, flawless arrangement and sufficient safety measures,” said Mr. Lam.

He also revealed that they were thinking of renting a hotel instead of building an athletes village.

“The hotel’s facilities will have to meet International Olympic Committee requirements and must be in a location convenient for athletes to travel to the competition venues in Sha Tin and Sheung Shui,” said Mr. Lam.

So far the closest challenge for Hong Kong is a test event, which will be held next August, one year before the Olympics, to test various aspects of the games, such as competition venues, accreditation, transportation, medical services and event management.

“Although the scale of the test event will only be one-tenth of the Olympic equestrian games, the test run will help us find out problems and have them fixed early. The test event is also one of our work priorities,” added Mr. Lam.