Foto: The international riders together with their Chinese teammates - Fotograf: Stefano Grasso
It is not necessarily the top international riders, who are the centre of attraction at the “Longines Equestrian Beijing Masters”. The concept of the show in the Chinese national stadium, the “Bird’s Nest” concentrated on the sustainable development of the equestrian sport in China from the very onset. For example, the focus is predominantly on the approx. 220 Chinese show jumpers, who compete here against top international riders.
It was Germany’s most experienced and most well-known show-jumper, Ludger Beerbaum, whom the Chinese organisers headed by Jing Li approached ten years ago, to ask if he could imagine co-developing a concept for an equestrian show at the Bird’s Nest. Beerbaum’s reply at the time was yes he could, whereby he advised the organisers to involve experienced show organisers in the planning. His advice: Ask the CHIO team in Aachen if they would be prepared to support the project. The concept and the special idea of the “Longines Equestrian Beijing Masters”, which is in the meantime being staged for the 9th time in 2019, was subsequently developed jointly. It is indeed not a get-together of the best riders in the world, instead only a selected number of famous riders come to Beijing – this year they are nine in total – to compete, but also to pass on their experience in seminars and intensive discussions. “There has been an incredible amount of progress over the past years,” stated Penelope Leprevost. The top French show jumper has been on board from the very beginning. She added that the level of the Chinese riders has improved strongly so that due to the exceptional constellation of the borrowed horses (due to the quarantine regulations the international riders aren’t allowed to bring their own horses with them) the international and Chinese riders almost have equal chances of success.
Alongside the international classes, the Chinese participants also have the opportunity to compete at the Bird’s Nest in many other competitions that are part of the supporting programme, such as the “Challenge Class”, the “BMW Elite Class”, “U14-Class” or team competitions. In addition to this there are also popular formats like the “BMW Jump & Drive”. The international professional riders (Malin Baryard-Johnsson (SWE), Ludger Beerbaum (GER), Daniel Deusser (GER), Martin Fuchs (SUI), Penelope Leprevost (FRA), Jane Richard Philips (SUI), Jos Verloy (BEL), Henrik von Eckermann (SWE) and Gregory Whatelet (BEL)) dedicate a lot of time to the project during the days in China. They sign autographs, pose for selfies and explain a lot – about themselves, their sport and they keep on having to answer curious questions too. For example, about their fashion style. They are indeed athletes, but first and foremost ambassadors of their sport.
All information on the participants and the results can be found here:
www.longinestiming.com/equestrian/2019/longines-equestrian-beijing-masters-beijing-birds-nest/index.html
