Lima Eyeing to Host Future International Equestrian Events After Success of Pan American Games

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Pan American Games equestrian venue in Lima, Peru.

Aug. 13, 2019

Success of the Pan American Games in Peru has led the nation to look to equestrian sports as a legacy of Lima to be developed for future international events.

Alberto Valenzuela, director general of Lima 2019 that organized the championships of the entire Americas, was reported by InsidetheGames to say Peru was unlikely to pursue further multisport events in the near future.

However, he identified equestrian, athletics and swimming as sports that the country might pursue following the Pan Ams that are held once every four years with the Lima competitions over 17 days considered one of the best since founding in 1951.

One of the venues cited as world class was the new equestrian center at the Army Riding School in Lima that hosted the three Olympic disciplines of dressage, eventing and jumping with about 130 combinations from 20 nations participating.

Debbie McDonald, coach of the United States dressage silver medal team and who competed at the world’s top show grounds with the mare Brentina that included two Olympics and two World Equestrian Games as well as a World Cup title and Pan Am team and individual golds, agreed.

“I thought they did an amazing job in Lima,” she told dressage-news.com from Tokyo where she is attending the 2020 Olympic test event.

“Footing was excellent, stalls were spacious, people were so wonderful, and not just the venue but everywhere was so clean! I was very impressed.”

“We have venues of international level,” Alberto Valenzuela was quoted by InsidetheGames.

“In a way we see these Games as the biggest test event for what is coming next.

“We want to keep thinking big.

“Maybe not multisport events but we want global events.

“We hope to have global events in athletics, swimming and equestrian.

“We have a lot of opportunities to host big singular events.”

Peru fielded teams in all three disciplines at the Pan Ams.

The International Equestrian Federation (FEI) lists a total of 118 athletes with 10 in both dressage and jumping and eight in eventing.

Brazil, Peru’s neighbor to the east, has a strong equestrian tradition and has qualified teams for dressage, eventing and jumping for Tokyo.