A Lithuanian eventer has spoken of his disappointment at losing his individual place at the Paris Olympics after he did not gain his final qualification when he was eliminated at Luhmühlen Horse Trials (13–16 June).
Aistis Vitkauskas was due to ride as an individual at Paris, having gained a place as one of the two highest-ranked athletes from FEI group C (central and Eastern Europe, central Asia).
Aistis and 13-year-old gelding Commander Vg were competing in the Luhmühlen CCI5*, where they were trying to obtain their final Olympic minimum eligibility requirement (MER) before the 24 June deadline.
But they were eliminated across country under the dangerous riding rule; they were stopped by a fence judge shortly after jumping fence 10abc; an upright to a ditch, then a skinny flower box.
Aistis told H&H their warm-up, in dry conditions, “went well”, then it started raining heavily before they left the start box.
He said that at fence 10a Commander Vg lifted well with his front legs but as they were jumping the gelding looked at the ditch causing him to “freeze” momentarily and not lift his back legs fully. Commander Vg made contact with the fence, but the MIM clip was not activated, and they cleared elements b and c.
“When they stopped me I couldn’t understand why and thought it must have been because someone had fallen in front of me. When I was told I must leave the track I was very confused,” said Aistis, who went to see the ground jury.
“The ground jury president said, ‘We know that you and Commander normally do much better, and this is not your day.’ I was told I’d been stopped for dangerous riding at fence 10abc. I argued that in my opinion the fence was very well handled by the horse, it was a tough moment, but it was the opposite to dangerous riding.”
Aistis, who believes the ground jury made the wrong decision, said he was then told that his jump at fence 5abc fell under the same dangerous riding criteria.
“That completely blew me off; I had a bad line but I did not have a bad jump. The ground jury stopped discussing it with me and said that it was done,” he said.
Aisitis received an official FEI warning for dangerous riding. He said the Lithuanian federation asked the FEI if he and Commander Vg could compete in Strzegom, Poland, (20–23 June) the week after Luhmühlen to try to gain their MER for Paris, but were told they could not.
FEI rules state that no horse and rider combination may participate at an event to obtain an Olympic MER within four weeks after having started the cross-country of a long-format event and/or two-weeks after a short format.
“This is the first time in my career I’ve had a dangerous riding warning. The damage is done. The decision has affected so many people involved in my process to Paris, so many people feel disappointed,” said Aistis, adding that he believes there should be more discussions on cross-country judging decisions.
A spokesperson for the Lithuanian federation told H&H it was “a big loss” for the country, adding: “The federation and the rider absolutely do not agree with the inadequate decision in this situation at Luhmühlen and we will seek and demand explanations.”
An FEI spokesperson told H&H “all decisions made by FEI officials are considered field-of-play decisions and are not subject to appeal”.
As Aistis and Commander Vg did not achieve their MER, Lithuania’s individual place was reallocated to the Czech Republic.
There was later a discrepancy over which fence Aistis was eliminated at as the event record showed that he had jumped fence 11 and was eliminated at fence 12, but Aistis said he was stopped after 10c. Aisitis said “such inaccuracies shouldn’t happen at five-star level”. An FEI spokesman emphasised that “such decisions are final and not subject to further review” and therefore it would “not be appropriate” for the FEI to comment on the specifics of the case.
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