Olympic qualifying criteria - a refresher

Oh my goodness I’ve been receiving a LOT of messages asking for clarification on what the Olympic qualifying criteria are and how Canada’s team gets selected. For an in-depth review, I recommend looking back through Liz Steacie’s Facebook posts, as she covered this topic in great detail earlier in the year. However in the interests of expediency, I’ll provide a brief summary here, with some examples that will hopefully clear up some of the confusion.

​The qualifying criteria are publicly available on the Equestrian Canada website here. If you’re too busy or too lazy to download and read the 23-page document, below are a few of the details about which I get asked most frequently.

FEI Minimum Eligibility Requirements (MER): The FEI requires that all horse / rider combinations achieve a minimum score of 67% from both an L4 judge and as an average from the judging panel in at least two different competitions at the CDI3* level or above, during the period January 1, 2023 - June 24, 2024. The L4 judge must not represent the same nationality as the rider.

Equestrian Canada’s qualification period: January 1 - June 9, 2024. Athletes must compete in at least 3 Grand Prix and 3 Special classes at the CDI3* level or higher during the qualifying period. One GP or GPS score may be dropped, however at least one score used to calculate the average (ie not dropped) from each of the GP and GPS must have been earned after April 1.

​Deciding factors: The average of all an athlete’s GP scores (minus the drop score if applicable) counts for 80% of the total ranking score. The average of all an athlete’s GPS scores (minus the drop score if applicable) counts for 20% of the total ranking score. The horse / rider combo with the highest ranking score at the end of the qualifying period is nominated to the team. Final ranking scores are usually used to determine the other two riders plus alternates, however the HPAG does have the discretion to consider other factors such as scoring trends, horse health and soundness, previous international performance, etc. This year the criteria also included the option to not nominate a team at all if a final ranking average of 70% for the team was not achieved.

​Nomination panel: Equestrian Canada’s High Performance Advisory Group is responsible for nominating the 2024 Olympic team riders and alternates. Panel members are listed on the Equestrian Canada dressage main page (scroll to the bottom of the page.) The criteria document also clearly outlines how real and / or perceived conflicts of interest are to be dealt with.

What about the scores?
​I believe there would be far less confusion and controversy if an unofficial leaderboard had been posted and updated throughout the qualifying period by Equestrian Canada. Even though it would not necessarily reflect the final rankings before drop scores are calculated, it would give the public insight into where each combination stands and whether scores are trending up or down. I do believe (hope?) that EC will release the final rankings when they officially announce the team this week, perhaps as early as tomorrow.

Because I’m a dressage geek, I kept an informal log of 2024 Grand Prix scores, just to see how things were shaping up. I’ve included screenshots below for reference only. This is not a complete list of GP scores. These are NOT the final rankings used by the nomination panel. They don’t factor in whether the MERs were achieved, or even if every horse was declared, so some of the combinations listed may not even be eligible. Nor do they include any Grand Prix Special scores. What the example does illustrate well is just how close all the riders in contention are to one another.