No easy pickings for Ireland in Olympic quest

Last Friday, the Ukrainian show jumping team contested a Tokyo 2020 qualifier in Budapest and amassed a total of 41 faults. That was a bad day at the office, one might think. On the contrary, that performance has secured them their place at the next Olympic Games.

Other countries, like Ireland, would have no chance of making Tokyo with a score like that, or even half of that, but it’s all down to the vagaries of regional groupings. Ukraine were fortunate enough to jump in a grouping that the FEI has designated as Olympic Group C, which consists of countries from Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, none of them show jumping powerhouses.