The exceptional lengths to which the Paris 2024 Olympic organisers went to prepare for potential emergency situations have been praised by a British firefighter who has been at the forefront of animal rescues for more than 20 years.
Jim Green, director of the British Animal Rescue and Trauma Care Association (BARTA), was invited by Professor Anne Couroucé to support a team of more than 60 veterinary professionals at the Paris Games as rescue team leader.
Mr Green travelled to France in December to run training for the French association of veterinary firefighters, then was asked to outline incident management protocols for Olympic vets during pre-event training at Fontainebleau in April.
Mr Green told H&H it was a “real privilege” of his career to be asked to provide the training and to lead the response to any equine emergency at the Games.
“It demonstrates the value of the work we’ve been doing for some years in improving the ways we deal with equine emergencies. It’s really encouraging that we are able to make a difference,” he said.
He added that “massive planning” went into the level of preparations, which included up to eight equine ambulances on the field of play – all equipped with rescue glides (devices to help rescue large animals). There were also 28 firefighters on standby, led by Commandant Marc Bidard, which included water rescue-trained firefighters and animal rescue specialists. Firefighter vets in wetsuits were also ready to get into water should an emergency require it.
Owing to the size of the Grand Canal, which is around a mile long, 60m wide and 2m deep in places, and around which the cross-country was run, they also had to think about what to do should a horse end up in the water. The team had an air-filled floating hose that could be used to corral an animal. While fortunately the sport passed without incident, the protocol was put into practice to rescue a deer that had strayed into the water.
Mr Green said the Paris organisers “should be congratulated”, noting vets Professor Couroucé and Dr Cyril Tricaud in particular for their foresight and incident planning.
‘Starting conversations’
Closer to home, Mr Green and BARTA have been strongly involved in scenario training for medics, vets and ground staff on British racecourses in recent years. Over the past 12 months alone, BARTA has trained 400 ground staff on UK racecourses, and Mr Green is keen to expand knowledge further in the wider equestrian world.
Training is already taking place with certain events and Mr Green wants to help “start conversations” with organisers of all levels to help them “identify risk and help them come up with practical solutions”.
“What I’ve learnt and what I bring in terms of incident management from the emergency services, we are starting to embed in the equestrian world,” he said, adding that BARTA has recently been invited to join an equine safety group made up of representatives across the equestrian world.
“We will start to outline to this group the work we’ve been doing in racing to see how we can translate that into a more mainstream response.”
FEI veterinary director Göran Åkerström told H&H that as with every Olympics, preparations for Paris 2024 were “thorough, extensive and took place over several years”.
“The FEI worked in close cooperation with the International Olympic Committee, the organising committee, and the venue delivery partner GL Events Equestrian Sport, to ensure the best possible conditions for all and especially for the athletes, both human and equine,” he said.
“Equestrian sport enjoyed state-of-the-art facilities and services in Versailles, which were spacious, clean and comfortable. I am confident we delivered an excellent Olympic Games with horse welfare clearly at the core of our joint efforts. I would like to thank all those who contributed to this massive achievement, and am looking forward to LA28.”
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