HOOF and the 2012 Olympic Games
(This picture is a computer simulation of the new Greenwich site)
Greenwich – the Olympic Site
The equestrian events at the 2012 Olympic Games will be held at a temporary site at Greenwich.
Facilities for the three Olympic equestrian disciplines, dressage, show jumping and eventing, will be erected for the duration of the Games in Greenwich Park and will include the main competition arena, practice arenas, stables and the cross-country course.
It will be funded and run by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG).
Find out more about equestrian sports at London 2012
Hoof – a Permanent Legacy
The national governing body for equestrian sports, the British Equestrian Federation, was keen to create some permanent legacy from the 2012 Games and so Hoof was born.
Hoof is the result of the London riding community coming together to use the inspiration of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games to increase participation in equestrian-related activity in London.
It will provide a permanent equestrian legacy of the 2012 games
N.B: Images, maps and photographs of the Greenwich site are all provisional and based on the original London 2012 bid documentation. These could change through detailed planning now taking place.
Greenwich 2012 (extract from the Times Equestrian Supplement Dec 08)
LOCOG (The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games) hopes the enduring London 2012 vision will be of a horse soaring through the air in front of the Royal Observatory.
It will be the first time equestrian sports have been geographically central. The crucial point is that with the London bid for 2012, the philosophy was that no athletes should be out on a limb. All sports were asked to suggest a site 30 minutes from the centre, and the advantage for Equestrian Sports was that they would, for once, be central.
Sue Benson has been appointed to design the Olympic cross country course. ‘I’ve talked to a few residents and obviously they are anxious. But its probably 6 – 8 weeks out of their lives when the park will be closed, all for something which the nation should be proud. We are not digging up roads or taking down trees. I am struggling with the negativity, I would just like people to get behind it, to ensure it is a success’.
Mike Etherington-Smith who designed the 2008 course at Beas River Country Club says ‘ In this country we specialize in holding competitions in heritage parks and their owners wouldn’t let it happen if we made a mess. All these places return to the condition they were in previously, if not improved.’
The first task for Tim Hadaway, the new equestrian Competition Manager has been to subdue alarmist theories from residents. ‘Nothing is being done without the approval of English Heritage, the Riyal Parks and Natural England’. He hopes to produce a great spectator experience in the park itself and would like to see the horse world take a lead in creating a national atmosphere, perhaps along the lines of the Proms in the Park.
