Dressage-News

Mariette Withages, former chair of the FEI Dressage Committee, has refuted an article published by dressage-news.com June 15, 2018. At her request, dressage-news.com is posting her response.

“I,  Mrs. Mariette Withages, regarding the published aricle request the publication of the following response on the article, ‘MARIETTE WITHAGES FIRED DECADE AGO AS CHAIR OF FEI DRESSAGE COMMITTEE, ONE OF SIX CANDIDATES TO JOIN BODY THAT SETS GLONAL AGENDA FOR SPORT”

This article is full of untruths and personal opinion and no facts.

Official FEI documents can proof that:

* I was not fired or ousted, but I resigned.

* The reason of the resignatio of ALL Dressage Committee members was independent of the fact that HRH Princess Haya, FEI President at the time, meant that the equestrian sport was threatened to be thrown ut of the Olympics. The IOC confirmed that the 2012 Olympic Programme was already decided and fixed in 2005.

Concerning controversial decisions and accusations of biased judging:

There is an official FEI report, dated 20th august 2008, signed by the 2nd Vice President of the FEI at the time, about Dressage at the Beijing Olympics, which concluded ‘Dressage has had an excellent competition which was judged to the hgh standards expected at the Olympic Games.’

Your article is not only a defamation for myself, but an insult to the whoe Dressage judges community and specially those judges who officiated at the Beijing Olympics.

It is obvious that your article was published with the sole motive to jeopardise my nomination to the FEI Dressage Committee.

Regarding the other candidates the presentation empasized only their merits, I was wrongy accused.”