Games making

Equestrianism will be in the thick of the action in Paris, but the logistics of hosting Olympics in the heart of an iconic city are a challenge. Kate Johnson asks organisers, riders and grooms for their memories of urban Olympic sites

- Kate Johnson

“IF you’ve got to the Olympics, you’re probably in the category of people that rise to the occasion,” says dressage team gold medallist Laura Tomlinson MBE. That mark of greatness she refers to could apply to everyone involved in the Olympic experience, even the setting itself.

But first things first: getting the horses on site. Martin Atock runs Peden Bloodstock, the company that has literally been rising to the challenge, flying Olympic (and later Paralympic) horses since the Rome Games of 1960.

“You can plan,” he comments, “but only when the logistics work; it’s one of the fundamentals.”

Prior to the Tokyo Games in 2021 (delayed a year due to the pandemic), Martin touched down in Japan on 16 different occasions, to attend meetings of up to 100 different stakeholders. He was responsible for “all aspects of health, logistics, quarantine, stable management and transport”, and only excellence would do.

He remembers 21 flights arriving for the Games, and “every single aircraft landed at 02.00 on the dot”. He would arrive at Baji Koen Equestrian Park every morning at 4.50am and “everyone knew I was going to be on time”.

Martin’s sole aim is to deliver the horses to the stables – plus hundreds of kilos of kit and feed – relaxed, happy and in the same peak competition fitness and condition in which they were handed over to his team.

When he flew horses for the Sydney 2000 Olympics, the horses had two weeks’ quarantine in Aachen. He built stables in Frankfurt and insisted every groom had a hotel room – “they weren’t allowed to sleep in the lorry”. As a result, both horses and grooms arrived at the airport for the journey via Dubai and Singapore relaxed.