Versailles Olympic venue ‘wanting wonderful’ as British horses head to France

The Olympics are about to kick off – and “it’s getting very thrilling” because the equestrian occasion venue close to Paris prepares to welcome rivals this week.

H&H spoke to British Equestrian’s (BEF) head of efficiency help Amanda Evans and head of operations and logistics Sophie Thomas on Monday (22 July), because the British Olympic occasion horses have been on their approach to France on LeShuttle. They have been set to remain in non-public stabling to interrupt up the journey, earlier than heading to the venue at Versailles when the stables open on Wednesday (24 July).

One of many British vehicles arrives in France. Credit score: LeShuttle.

Ms Evans and Ms Thomas have been among the many help group that had travelled forward to Paris, to organize for the Brits’ arrivals.

“We’ve been busy setting all the things up prepared for the arrival of the group, so it’s getting very thrilling now and all feels very actual,” stated Ms Evans. “It’s a stunning setting.”

Ms Thomas added: “I had boots on the bottom on the Versailles venue yesterday [Sunday], and it’s wanting wonderful, it’s an unimaginable venue. To go from primarily a greenfield website, to what they’ve constructed now could be unimaginable, as a result of all the things is short-term, nevertheless it appears as if [the organisers] have considered all the things.

“There are a great deal of wash bays and cooling alternatives – it ticks all of the packing containers for horses. The arenas are all down and look wonderful. The steady barns have been noticeably cooler once you walked into them from exterior.”

She added that the British riders will probably be staying exterior the Olympic Village “purely primarily based on journey time”, and are as a substitute in a resort round 25 minutes from the venue. The grooms will probably be staying on-site in a resort, which opened two months in the past, and in chalets or of their lorries.

“On Wednesday, when all people is on the venue, and the horses arrive, and all of the athletes are there, it’s going to simply explode into life,” stated Ms Thomas.

You may also be considering:

Keep in contact with all of the information within the run-up to and all through the Paris Olympics, Royal Worldwide, Burghley and extra with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe immediately for all it’s good to know forward of those main occasions, plus on-line reviews on the motion because it occurs from our professional group of reporters and in-depth evaluation in our particular commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Arrange your limitless web site entry now

H&H senior information author

Lucy is an skilled information journalist, reporter and presenter. Since becoming a member of the Horse & Hound group in 2015, Lucy has reported from main world sporting occasions together with the Tokyo Paralympic Video games and a number of European Championships, in addition to Badminton, Burghley and London, to call a couple of. She has lined present affairs and sports activities information throughout the total spectrum of equestrian disciplines and racing, in addition to human and equine welfare, trade information and courtroom instances.