Equestrian at the 2008 Summer Olympics

Equestrian competitions at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics were held from August 9 to August 21 at the Hong Kong Sports Institute and Sheung Yue River in Hong Kong. It was the second time the equestrian events were hosted by a member of the IOC other than the member hosting the main games. Unlike 1956, however, the equestrian events were part of the main games, and were held within the same period.

Events

6 sets of medals will be awarded in the following events:

• individual dressage
• team dressage
• individual jumping
• team jumping
• individual eventing
• team eventing

Qualification

Each event has its own qualification rules, but generally rely on FEI rankings.

Dressage qualification

For the team competition there were a total of 10 quota spots and as many composite as qualify. Three team spots were awarded at the 2006 FEI World Equestrian Games. In addition 7 team spots were awarded at regional competitions (Europe: 3, Americas: 2, Asia: 2). In addition, should a country have three athletes qualified in the individual competition, they will be considered a team and allowed to compete as a composite team. Five teams qualified under this scheme.

For the individual competition, 50 spots were allocated as follows. Thirty spots were awarded to the athletes who qualified as teams above. In addition, the highest ranked rider from each of seven geographic regions and the host nation qualify. Then the top twelve riders based on rank FEI rank who had not otherwise...
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