Two-Year Bans for Officials Who Covered-Up Judge’s Absence

A jumping judge and the secretary-general of the Kyrgyzstan equestrian federation have each been suspended for two years by the FEI for covering-up the former’s absence from a qualifier for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games.

Elena Wilson, an official from Kazakhstan, was appointed foreign judge at the Bishkek show in the neighbouring Central Asian state of Kyrgyzstan last November. But problems obtaining a visa caused Wilson to drop out two weeks beforehand.

Instead of informing the FEI and asking them to help find a replacement, Wilson and Ilvira Jogina – who as well as running the Kyrgyzstan federation was ground jury president in Bishkek – colluded to cover-up Wilson’s absence. Jogina provided Wilson with a report of the show, course plans, pictures and results and Wilson sent them on to the FEI, with her electronic signature.

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An impartial foreign judge is compulsory for special qualifiers held under FEI World Jumping Challenge rules. These enable countries in remote regions to test riders over identical courses on different weekends in different countries. They are then ranked according to their respective results. The FEI, who brought the cases against its own officials, told the independent FEI Tribunal that the “role of the foreign judge is to ensure that national federations do not try to boost their own athletes’ chances …. by deviating from the set course or by not recording the results accurately.”

The FEI has voided the show as a result of the fraud, meaning that winner Andrey Tryapitsin has lost his place at YOG.

Wilson said: “I was not able to attend this competition since I did not receive my passport from the authorities in time to be able to apply for Kyrgyzstan visa. I’ve informed the Kyrgyzstan national federation on this force majeur circumstance. When they’ve asked me to help them not to cancel this competition but to send the results from my mail box, I’ve agreed. I’ve been judging with those judges for many times and there was never a case to doubt their judging, so I had to agree to this proposal as I felt myself responsible for not being able to attend.”

It also emerged that Wilson submitted results and a foreign judge report to the FEI for another event she had also failed to attend in Kyrgyzstan.

Jogina said that cancelling the show would have been “disastrous” in view of the large advertising campaign undertaken, its sponsors and the fans expected from all over the region. “Please understand that it was a least-evil solution and the decision of the organizing committee,” she added.

The FEI said: “The FEI relies on FEI officials to uphold the rules and ensure that they are applied fairly and consistently. Therefore, it is all the more egregious when it is an FEI official who is behind such a fraudulent and serious breach of the FEI Rules and Regulations. Ms Wilson’s actions undermine the credibility of the FEI World Jumping Challenge series in general.”

In pressing for exemplary punishments, the FEI added said that Jogina “went to some lengths to keep the FEI in the dark.” The FEI also “could not overlook the fact that Ms Jogina’s actions have had serious consequences for Andrey Tryapitsin, the 17-year old athlete who has lost the chance of a lifetime to travel to Buenos Aires to participate in the 2018 Youth Olympic Games.”

Both were also fined 1,000 Swiss francs – a sum Jogina stated was equivalent to her annual salary.

The full decisions can be read here.