Over 200 horses participating in Beijing Olympic equestrian events, which will be held in August, are arriving at the co-host city, Hong Kong, in succession. All of them will be boarding at “6-star” stables and enjoying the world-class competition venues.
The Olympic equestrian events are unique as the only Olympic sport in which humans and animals work as a team, and are made up of three totally separate disciplines — dressage, jumping and eventing.
For the 2008 Games, the Dressage and Jumping competitions will take place in a purpose-built main competition arena of 100 metersx80 meters at the Hong Kong Sports Institute, Sha Tin, which will have a seating capacity of about 18,000.
The Cross-Country of the eventing competition will take place at the Hong Kong Golf Club and the adjacent Beas River Country Club in Sheung Shui.
The International Olympic Committee announced in 2005 that Hong Kong would co-host the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games equestrian events. From then on, the Hong Kong Jockey Club, venues and facilities provider of the Games’ equestrian events, started to build the venues and supporting facilities.
The club has invested over 1.2 billion HK dollars (about 153.8 million U.S. dollars) on the project, which will be the most advanced, all-embracing establishment in the history of the Olympics.
There are 13 training arenas for dressage and jumping including a first-ever indoor air-conditioned training arena in Olympic Games’ history.
Specially designed lighting at the Shatin main competition arena are specially designed to minimize shadowing to avoid the competing horses from being scared.
The cross-country course for Beijing Olympic Games equestrian eventing competition, which will be given a final touch in early August, comprises a 5.7 km long, 10 meters wide temporary course.
Some 50 fences on the course will mainly be made of wood with the craving of dragon, rat, crane, fish, panda and some other features, reflecting the culture of China and will help people recognize where the event is taking place.
Cooling stations have also been installed in all training and competition venues, to enable the horses to cool down quickly after vigorous activity.
Since the competitions will be taking place during the wet season, the venues are built with systems which can allow fast drainage of water. Water can be effectively drained away two hours after a heavy rainfall.
Located at the Shatin Olympic venue, there are four blocks of stables accommodating 200 Olympic horses and reserve stables for 25horses. The larger than Olympic standard stalls measure in at 3.6 x3.6 meters, are all air-conditioned to ensure good ventilation and to keep the temperature and humidity stable.
Advanced security alarm and 24-hour closed-circuit television system were installed in the stables to ensure the security of the horses. Disinfecting rugs are placed at all entrances of the stables to minimize the chance that the horses might get infected.
In keeping with the green theme of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, are constructed from engineered wood made of sustainable bamboo and the rubber flooring is made from recycled tyres. Also, the air-conditioning and lighting systems use 30 percent less energy than conventional installations.
The Club has also built a dedicated Equine Clinic for diagnostic and primary care as part of the Olympic stabling complex, adjacent to the Shatin competition arena. A temporary clinic is serving the Beas River venue.
The Club’s Equine Hospital, located at the Shatin Racecourse, is well-equipped with high-tech facilities including a gamma camera for scanning bones, a high-speed horse treadmill to evaluate a horse’s heart rate and respiratory system during exercise, computerized x-ray and digital ultrasonography system.
Besides, the hospital has an operating theater, pre-operation anesthesia and post-operation recovery rooms and a laboratory.
(Source: en.beijing2008.cn)
