A system that spares no one
08 August 2021
It has now been a few days since Equestrian medals were awarded at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and the web has been crowded with posts, comments and articles addressing the unfortunate episode happened during the jumping team qualifier, last Friday, involving Irish show-jumper Shane Sweetnam and his horse Alejandro. With a clear mind, we now propose a screening of the scenario, with the only intent of allowing us all to reflect.
Cork native Sweetnam and grey gelding Alejandro were the first of the Irish to enter the arena in Team Equestrian Show Jumping at Tokyo 2020. According to new regulations (critiqued since their very introduction) every team now gets to enter a line-up of three horses and riders, instead of traditional four. This means that is no longer possible to discard the worst performance from the team score. The DNF of a duo also translates in the knock-out of the whole team.
All three performances were going to be added up to determine the final ranking of the team competition. Sweetnam and Alejandro were first up for the Irish team and they started off strong, everything working just fine. But at some point, something changes. Ever since the triple combination, Alejandro starts to jump in an uncomfortable way. Approaching the next fence, a straight, the horse knocks it out with the rear, causing his rider almost a fall. Balance regained, Sweetnam leads Alejandro to fence number seven, the wall; the horse goes through with quite the effort. Horse and rider look anything but at ease, but nonetheless they continue with their soon-to-be nightmare round to the next jump. Alejandro tries to take off but fails and crashes into the jump. The almost-identical scenario repeats itself at the following oxer, but this time Alejandro and his rider suffer a frightening fall.
With just the luck, both athletes were able to walk away unscathed from the terrible accident, which could result in far worse outcomes.
In the last few days, I’ve had the chance to read a lot of comments regarding the unfortunate mishappening. To my understanding two opinions, opposite to each other, are the most regarded by the public. Those who reproach the rider’s conduct finding it outrageous, and those who try to justify such a behaviour, with an effort to show solidarity.
According to the first opinion, Sweetnam should have retired early in his round, the wellbeing of his horse being a priority; and his own too, since horse and rider could both have been severely injured in the fall. According to this, there is no possible justification to a rider choosing to risk his and his horse’s safety, even in the chase for an Olympic medal, the dream of every sportsman.
Instead, those who embrace the second opinion tend to justify the Irish’s conduct, believing him a simple victim of daft and unfair regulations. What could Sweetnam have done differently? He found himself in a hard place during a course, a quite common scenario in both recreational and professional show-jumping. But this time, due to regulations, his withdrawal would have resulted in the automatic elimination of the whole Irish team. He found himself with the pressure to choose, quite understandably, to continue with his strained round. Sport had to come first, especially in the Olympic Games. Shane Sweetnam did not make the regulations: he simply had no other choice but to take the risk, no matter the cost.
Now, the aim of this piece is not that of expressing a personal opinion on Shane Sweetnam, nor we are trying to take a side in the debate regarding the scenario involving this particular Olympian. Instead, we are trying to reflect on the causes and circumstances behind the Sweetnam accident. Honestly, we believe both the above-mentioned standings to be acceptable, since the principles at their very core.
And on this very conflict, the horses’ wellbeing on one side and the demands of the sport on the other, comes my own crisis as a jumping athlete. In my previous articles I have already had the chance to express the many doubts I have with regards to the current regulations of Equestrian sports, and the premises behind such rules. Now that I have not been an active athlete for such a long time, it would be unsensible of me, and perhaps quite hypocritical, to express a biased opinion on what happened in Tokyo without posing the real questions.
How was Sweetnam lead to the decision of carrying on with the course, despite the more-than-clear distress of his horse?
‘I felt like I was on a suicide mission because there was no drop score… there was no quitting!’ – the rider declared shortly after the accident.
An interview that resembles war chronicle more than sports journalism. From these few words, one can understand the emotional state Sweetnam experienced when he took, in a matter of seconds, the infamous decision to carry on with his nightmare round.
What would I have done if I had been in Shane Sweetnam’s shoes? Impossible to know. One would have to find himself in the exact same situation to be sure of the answer. To have endured what today riders go through to get to the Olympic Games. To have made the same sacrifices. To have felt the pressure on one’s shoulders in that very moment. The pressure of teammates, team chiefs, sponsors, horses’ owners. The awareness that one’s future carrier could have been determined by that very decision.
What I would have done I can’t really know. The Irish man chose to go on, that is for sure. He had to take a spontaneous decision in a matter of seconds, without the chance to really weigh up his options.
Rest assured; the intent is not to relieve Sweetnam of his responsibilities for what happened. He could have withdrawn, but he chose to go on. Our aim is not to convict nor acquit Shane Sweetnam for his decision. It is the system, this concept of horse-riding, which spares no one. And we are not simply concerning the last alteration of regulations, which however did little to no good. But it would be unfair to blame a little senseless rule for a much bigger problem. How many other rules are nothing but a vile compromise to allow the practice of a sport with has no longer anything to do with the wellness of animals? And how many debates on accessory and over-all irrelevant issues are carried on every day, when we should instead be addressing the very principles behind the system?
And paying the price of such negligence are of course the horses. And also riders, however brilliant and experienced, endure the psychological consequences of such a school, to the point of putting the sport before safety.
How many Alejandros will still have to suffer frightening falls before we understand that not the regulations nor the decision taken under pressure by an individual are what is wrong, but the very hierarchy of values at the core of this sport?
© Pietro Borgia; eng. by Lucrezia Villa; no reproduction without permission; cover pic: credits facebook S. Sweetnam
