After a nail-biting two years of speculation about the inclusion of equestrian sports in the next Olympic Games, it was announced yesterday, April 9, by the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had approved all three equestrian sports (dressage, eventing and show jumping) for Los Angeles in 2028 (LA28). These three equestrian disciplines have been part of the Olympic program since 1912.
Dates for the LA28 Olympic Games are July 14-30, 2028. The total quota of equestrian athletes for LA28 remains the same as for the Paris Olympic Games last year, 200 (75 for jumping, 65 for eventing and 60 for dressage). For countries who qualify to send teams, each of the three sports will have three athletes per team. And beyond that, some other countries will earn the right to send individual athletes.
FEI President Ingmar De Vos welcomed the announcement, citing the success of the equestrian events at the Paris 2024 Games. “We are extremely pleased with today’s IOC decision. The Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games were a historic success for equestrian sport, which proved very popular with the live crowds and TV and online viewers worldwide. It’s great news that our numbers remain unchanged, and we are looking forward to delivering exciting sport at the same level of excellence.”
The qualification systems for the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games were just discussed at the recent FEI Sports Forum in Lausanne, Switzerland, on March 31 and April 1. The resulting proposals by the FEI General Assembly will be put forward to the IOC for discussion, and hopefully approval, later this year. A summary of FEI Sports Forum discussions, and the presentation made during the session dedicated to the LA28 Olympic qualification systems, are available here.
In 2026, the FEI will discuss and put forward to the IOC the rules for equestrian sports at the LA28 Games. Any day now, the IOC should confirm the equestrian venue for LA28. The Galway Downs facility just outside Temecula, Calif., and an equestrian venue in Moor Park, Calif., are being considered.
Similar confirmation announcements will be forthcoming for the LA28 Paralympics soon. The dates for the LA28 Paralympic Games will be August 15 to August 27, 2028.
Key Olympic Facts & Figures From The FEI
Equestrian will be one of the 31 sports on the program of the LA28 Olympic Games. The six medal equestrian events (3 team and 3 individual competitions, one for each sport) will be part of the 25 mixed events across all sports and the 351 events overall in LA28.
The LA28 program maintains the core athlete quota of 10,500, with an extra 698 allocated for the five new sports proposed by the LA28 Organizing Committee (baseball/softball, cricket, flag football, lacrosse, and squash).
A record-breaking 50 nations participated in equestrian at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The number of nations at Paris 2024 was 49. The number of nations competing in equestrian in Los Angeles in 1984 was 30.
Equestrian sport is the only Olympic sport in which men and women compete as equals from grass roots all the way up to Olympic level.
With the completion of the 2028 Games, Los Angeles will have hosted the Olympics three times (1932, 1984, 2028). The only other three-time hosts are Paris (1900, 1924 and 2024) and London (1908, 1948 and 2012).
More Information on the LA28 Olympics
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