2022 Youth Olympic Games Postponed:

With the ongoing global pandemic creating unsafe environments for many international events, the world has had to learn to adjust and adapt to the current way of life. The Tokyo Olympics, originally intended to commence in 2020, had to be postponed due to the pandemic and now, the Youth Olympic Games, which were scheduled to be hosted in Dakar (Senegal) in 2022, have also been postponed to 2026. However, there will still be an international competition available to the young riders in the form of the Youth Championships which will be hosted in Germany.

Following the decision made by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to postpone the Youth Olympic Games, the FEI approached the IOC for an agreement on a replacement competition. In place of the YOG in Dakar, the FEI will now host the FEI Youth Jumping Competition for athletes aged 14-18 to enable athletes the opportunity to compete. This replacement competition will be hosted in Aachen, Germany, and follow the same unique format as the Youth Olympic Games.

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FEI President, Ingmar De Vos said, “We were delighted the IOC supported the FEI initiative for a replacement equestrian competition for the Youth Olympic Games in 2022 and that it will be hosted at the world-famous showgrounds in Aachen.” He continued by saying that “the youth are our future and we need to safeguard the development of the youth engagement in equestrian sport and continue inspiring this new generation of athletes.” De Vos further added, “Participation at the YOG is a significant motivating factor for athletes to stay in elite-level sport. Now we can offer the FEI Youth Jumping Competition 2022 as an alternative to the next YOG generation, which they would otherwise have lost with the postponement of Dakar 2022. And, it allows us to promote the Olympic values with these young athletes in a truly global environment.”

The replacement competition will be hosted from the 28th of June to the 3rd of July 2022 and will follow the same format as the equestrian competitions for Youth Olympic Games. 30 athletes from 30 nations, across 6 continents, competing in a continental team competition and individual competition. Following the same rule-set for YOG, all athletes will compete on borrowed horses to ensure fairness to all athletes across the globe. While this competition may not hold the same title as YOG, the opportunity for many young athletes to compete on a global scale is invaluable. The final naming of this replacement competition will be confirmed at a later date by the FEI.

While many South African hopefuls may be disappointed at the postponement of the Youth Olympic Games and miss their opportunity to compete for the acclaimed youth title, the alternate competition will afford our local young talents the opportunity to compete at one of the most prestigious and highly revered competition venues in the world, Aachen. 

Athletes wishing to participate in this Youth Championship must have been born between 1st January 2004 and 31st December 2007. The same qualification process as approved for the Youth Olympic Games 2022 will apply to the FEI Youth Jumping Championship competition, meaning that athletes will qualify via the FEI Jumping World Challenge or, where applicable, their Junior Continental Championship. Further details on the qualification process for athletes will be published by the FEI in due course. 

-The JumpOff-

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