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Reception at Townhall

The 300 participants at the World Dressage Championships for Riders with Disability were received at a reception Wednesday at Aarhus Townhall.

The Lord Mayor of Aarhus, Flemming Knudsen, welcomed all the representatives from the 28 countries and emphasized the fact that the tradition to offer famous athletes drink and food originally dates back to the ancient Greece.

The president of the Organizing Committee of the World Championships, Sv. Aa. Birck Jakobsen, told in his speech, that many of the participants also were participants at the World Championships at Vilhelmsborg in 1991, but that this time we are talking about the largest riding event for disabled riders ever.

The rider Zadok Omasi from Israel turned out to be a talented poet as his moving poem ”When I´m on my horse” was recited by the Israeli chef d'equipe, Anita Shrkedi. 

Zadok Omasi, who is handicapped in his vision, speech and ability to walk, tells in his poem how he - mounted on horseback - feels equal to all others and how he for a moment forgets about his disability, while is riding a horse.

After the reception the participants were invited to spend the evening in the fair ground Tivoli Friheden.

International competition
- Many new nations have joined us at these World Championships, states the experienced danish rider, Jens Kryger Nielsen, who has participated in all the World Championships in riding for disabled: 1987 in Sweden, where he won gold, 1991 in Denmark, 1994 in England and now in Denmark 1999.
The strong - and most winning - nations are England, Germany and France, and the Scandinavian countries Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
At these World Championships also defending World Champions such as Shoena Townsend, from the USA, are participating.
- But there could be surprises from the new participating nations such as Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Croatia, says Jens Kryger Nielsen.

Developing the elite  
Jens Kryger Nielsen finds that the development of an elite in the riding sports for disabled has made it more difficult for the most disabled riders to compete in the international elite level.
The riders are classified into four classes according to their disability, and grade 1 is the class for the most disabled, grade 4 for the least disabled.
- It is obvious that there are fewer participants in grade 1 and 2 at these Championships. Most of the participants are now competing in grade 3 and 4, says Jens Kryger Nielsen, who himself is a grade 3 rider.
- Therefore we are obliged to see to it that there will be more opportunities at the national level for grade 1 and grade 2 riders to take part in competitions, underlines Jens Kryger Nielsen.

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