For the very first time, Israel will compete in the field of show jumping at the Olympic Games after its four-person team finished on top in the qualifier earlier this week.
Team Israel competed against other countries in Group C at the Olympic Jumping Qualifier in Moscow’s Maxima Park, beating rivals from Poland, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan. The Moscow competition was the second qualifier for Group C; Ukraine won the top spot in Budapest a few days earlier.
Equestrian sport, which includes show jumping, dressage and eventing, made its first Olympic appearance at the 1912 Stockholm Games. It is the only Olympic sport to feature animals, and one of the few in which men and women compete as equals.
Israel’s show-jumping team for the Tokyo 2020 games is set to include Daniel Bluman, Ashlee Bond, Elad Yaniv and Danielle Waldman, together with horses Ladriano Z, Chela LS, Alvaro du Gue and Lizziemary. The team is coached by Jeroen Dubbeldam, who won a gold medal for his birth country, The Netherlands, in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Israel first participated in the Olympic Games in 1952. The upcoming delegation is set to include athletes who will compete in athletics, swimming, horse riding, sailing and shooting.
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