On Home Ground: The 2015 Pan American Games

you're listening to an article from horse sport.com. on home ground: the 2015 pan american games by: karen robinson. the xvii pan american games in toronto, on, july 10-26, were a rare opportunity for canadians to watch some of the country’s top international athletes live. it was a common remark from canadian athletes across all sports that the chance to perform in front of friends, family and fans made the games experience particularly special. in some cases, the home crowd support was credited with enhancing performances and leading to personal best results. the cheering started right from the spectacular opening ceremonies, when the rogers centre was filled with a cacophonous roar as hundreds of canadian athletes flowed into the stadium during the athlete parade. at the pan am equestrian events at the caledon equestrian park and will o’wind farm, the spectator experience was unique and memorable as the mainly canadian crowds cheered on their athletes. for once the maple leaf was by far the most commonly-seen flag waving from the stands. the equestrian venues were well-prepared and horse-friendly, earning positive comments from athletes. these pan am games were the most successful for the canadian equestrian team in recent memory, with a total of five medals won: three team medals (gold in jumping, silver in dressage and bronze in eventing), and two individual medals (silver in eventing and bronze in dressage). the canadian fans who bought tickets to the equestrian events were rewarded with plenty of reasons to celebrate. advertisement scroll to continue with content the pan am games were not all smooth sailing, however; the lost marketing opportunities in toronto were keenly felt across the canadian equestrian community. and while a fair share of responsibility lies with the to2015 organizers, there must also be the recognition that equestrian sport is still a long way from the more popular sports such as track and field when it comes to demand for broadcast coverage. bums in seats, eyes on screens. most of the equestrian events were listed as ‘sold out’ on the to2015 ticketing site weeks before the competition took place, and yet there was never an instance of what looked like a sold-out event. there were times, particularly during the dressage, that the 3,500-capacity stands at cep were closer to empty than full. an inquiry to to2015 about the discrepancy between the actual crowds and the supposedly sold-out tickets was answered: “like other multisport games, some seats will be available to people attending the games in a professional capacity, like members of the media or national olympic committees. additionally, corporate sponsors who invest in the games receive a ticket allocation as part of that commitment.“ media at the equestrian venue had a dedicated tribune and did not account for any of the unused seats in the main stands. equestrian was not the only ‘sold out’ sport with empty seats. even during the most popular track event – the men’s 100-meter sprint – one could see empty seats throughout the prime seating areas. there was one more reason cited by to2015 for the unfilled seats. “there are also seats that are unavailable because of obstructions due to broadcast…” as was noted by equestrian enthusiasts across canada and throughout the americas, there was no broadcast of any kind – either live-stream or on cbc television – of any of the dressage or eventing competitions. the cbc finally kicked into high gear with excellent live-stream and limited tv coverage of the show jumping. the cbc was subjected to a tidal wave of complaints from people who were unhappy about the lack of coverage of many sports – not just equestrian. for its part, to2015 claims that it has no control over what the official broadcast partner (which has sole access to filming and distributing footage) decides to cover. “the broadcasting schedule is determined by our host broadcaster, cbc.” further investigation suggests that cbc isn’t in total control, but that the pan american sports organization (paso) dictates at least some of those decisions. as unhappy as dressage and eventing fans were about the lack coverage, the truth of the matter is that these two equestrian disciplines are well down the pecking order because they don’t draw a large audience. a national post article noted that nearly 58,000 people watched the men’s pan am baseball final, and almost 45,000 watched the women’s basketball gold medal game. there would, of course, be plenty of takers to provide free online coverage of equestrian sports, but the pan am games are part of the olympic family, and the ioc’s strict control on broadcast rights is famously uncompromising. the day may come when ‘unofficial’ live-streaming taken by unauthorized cameras will become impossible to control by the ioc and exclusive broadcast rights holders. in the meantime, canada’s equestrian community and governing bodies have yet to sell dressage and eventing to a significant segment of the public. format confusion. between the 2011 pan am games and toronto, changes were made to the formats of all three equestrian disciplines. the show jumping’s first round is no longer a table c speed round, but a table a warmup that serves only to determine order of go for the following days. the individual final is now a clean-slate competition, with results from the previous days having no influence on the individual medals beyond determining who is qualified to compete. in eventing, the olympic format of two show jumping rounds (one for team medals and a second one to determine individual medals) that had been followed to keep the pan am games in step with the olympics, was changed in 2013 when the fei determined that only the olympics would use the extra round of jumping. on the final day of eventing, there was considerable confusion among the media, who had not been informed of the change and were expecting a second round of jumping. even the venue press manager was in the dark, despite the fact that the fei director for eventing, catrin norinder, was in attendance for the entire eventing competition. “we will make sure that for future games, better information is provided,” norinder said afterward. dressage had the greatest issue over format, as the pan am games technical manual for equestrian was inconsistently drafted. the show jumping section had clear and comprehensive text for the entire competition, including changes to the format. for the dressage, however, the technical manual completely lacked detail on the eligibility of athletes to advance to the individual final freestyle (fei rules are clear that only three athletes per nation may proceed to the individual final – a standard format across olympic sports). when the initial draw was conducted for the freestyle, it included the names of the fourth-best canadian and us riders, megan lane and sabine schut-kery. after 24 hours of appeals, consultation with paso and chefs d’equipe of all teams, the two north americans were replaced by a venezuelan and a mexican. as consolation for the unfortunate situation, lane and schut-kery were invited to perform their freestyles as test rides. &&>