South Korea’s leading equestrian rider Hwang Young-sik (Korea Equestrian Federation) will compete in dressage at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, facing off against European powerhouses at the historic Palace of Versailles.
The qualifying competition for the individual dressage competition at the Paris Olympic Games will be held in a special arena at the Etoile Royaume at the Palace of Versailles starting at 6 p.m. (KST) on Tuesday.
A total of 60 riders will compete in the individual dressage competition, divided into six groups of 10 riders, starting with qualification.
The first and second place finishers from each group, plus the six runners-up, will qualify for the freestyle on August 4.
Hwang, who is seeded third in Group C, will perform at 10:14 p.m. on July 30 with his partner horse, Del Monte.
Hwang is a veteran but new to the Olympic stage.
A back-to-back winner at the 2010 Guangzhou and 2014 Incheon Asian Games, Hwang has been considered the face of Korean dressage for more than a decade.
Feeling unbeatable in Asia, he moved to Germany to pursue his Olympic dreams and earn ranking points in a favorable environment, which helped him qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
However, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic forced him to withdraw, and Hwang Young-sik’s qualification was accepted by Kim Dong-sun, the third son of Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-yeon and head of strategy at Hanwha Galleria.
Kim, who made it to the first round of qualifying in Rio de Janeiro 2016 before returning home as a maternal grandfather, failed to make it to the final round in Tokyo.
As Hwang Young-sik’s “Going to Europe” suggests, the home and center of equestrianism is Europe. South Korean equestrian has yet to win a medal at the Olympics.
Despite winning 44 medals (15 gold, 13 silver, 6 bronze) at the Asian Games, the sport has struggled to even qualify for the Olympics.
His best placings were 10th in the individual dressage (Seo Jung-gyun) and seventh in the team event at the 1988 Seoul Olympics as the host nation.
Dressage is a competition in which riders and horses are judged on how well they coordinate while following a set path around a 60-meter-long by 20-meter-wide arena.
Five judges, seated in different areas, evaluate the rider and horse’s performance.
In dressage, which is often referred to as the “ballet of equestrianism,” the rider and horse’s communication and harmony are particularly important. Higher scores are awarded to the horse and rider who execute the set movements with more discipline and grace.
Meanwhile, British equestrian hero Charlotte Dujardin, who was a strong favorite to win three gold medals at the Olympics, withdrew from the Games just before the start amid a horse abuse scandal.
Becky Moody, who was a reserve athlete, will compete for Great Britain in her place. 파워볼사이트 추천