dcro

I hope the official streams at YT channel will work eventually. Can't see myself being too motivated to follow the low quality streams otherwise.

Oh, I forgot to point out how the only show jumping entrant for Saudi Arabia will be Dalma Malhas. Their 2010 YOG female medalist.

I see that Bridge is baiting IOC. MIXED and SUPERMIXED events.

Commentator claimed that Jordan is from the Mediterranean.

Why are they all waving the Polish flags? Yeah, it's quite unusual to see that many Indonesian flags.

"I'm kidding. ha ha ha ha"

Endurance competition at Normandy 2014 was EPIC.

Terrible news. Well, this puts Denmark from having almost safe spot to battling it out with Spain. Maybe even being slightly behind.

It should be quite unpredictable with 6+ spots on offer in each event but I'll give it a go. Dressage - + Top 6 countries seem to be the firm favorites at the moment, however Spain will definitely look to steal a spot, mainly from the Netherlands I suspect. Portugal and Russia meanwhile could get in if a lot of things go their way. Australia shall get the Group G spot by default. Eventing - This one is already less predictable. Great Britain is likely the biggest favorite for qualification (they have ridiculous depth). Australia, Germany and New Zealand should do alright. Sweden and USA are probably the most vulnerable ones on this list. Canada, France and Ireland could be close, followed by Belgium and Italy. Canada could do very well at their home continent (already proved it in the past by taking shocking team medals both times the USA hosted eventing worlds). French selectors seemingly learned nothing from Strzegom disaster last year. Not worthy of Olympic champions, I can see them getting elmiinated again. Ireland probably has their best team in years on the other hand. Belgium/Italy are more on the mediocre side. I suspect at least one surprise qualifier should get in thanks to avoiding major XC penalties. Jumping - I'm quite confident for Belgium, Ireland, Netherlands and USA. Germany and Sweden not so much. Italy and Switzerland could be very close to taking a spot as well. Brazil (not consistent enough), Canada (lacking big names), France (a lot of unfamiliar names), Great Britain (inexperienced), Spain (inconsistent) will be looking for spoilers. And finally, I can also see Mexico, Egypt, New Zealand or even Israel creating a major surprise.

It literally makes no difference. There is such thing as "honorable owner" (plenty of them in America in fact). I can't remember any top American rider ever unwillingly losing a horse due to ownership change, so there's that.

FEI says it's 71. I haven't counted them myself though. In any case, Kentucky 2010 should be more comparable being in North America and all. 58 countries competed then, so it's an increase of 11/13 countries.

Or, more likely, not. Some pro riders ride up to 20 horses per day.

Yeah, but it's still quite a nice team. And with Saudi Arabia dropping behind and Qatar not participating at all (??), Egypt is very much the best in the region at the moment.

Entries are finally in! Overview of the Olympic disciplines... Dressage Team - Individuals only - Eventing Team - Individuals only - Jumping Team - Individuals only - As expected, entries are smaller compared to the previous games in 2014, since many nations don't fancy flying over to North Carolina. Also quite a few nations that usually send teams now only have an individual or two (Austria ). Quite interesting to see Bolivia entering two riders in jumping. Also Lebanon and Macedonia (possibly all of them making WEG debuts).

Well, then we would probably be seeing Gates, Bloomberg, Springsteen too, at least on the shortlist. The only thing they are really guilty of is buying a horse that is too good for Adrienne. A waste of talent. Honestly, the American team seems to be considerably weaker than some previous years, with names like Jamie Barge and Lillie Keenan popping on the short list...

No, he withdrew himself from the short list, citing that he won't be able to reach full fitness by WEG following an injury.

She is 11th ranked American right now, significantly in front of Georgina Bloomberg and Jennifer Gates.

American show jumping team. No idea how Sternlicht got a place. Not sure about Kraut either. Beezie is the reserve. McLain the top prospect. Devin continues his fairytale season.

I think the surprise result for Iran may come in eventing. Don't know much about Torabi, but he wasn't half bad in France a month ago! Although don't be surprised if he drops more than one rail in the show jumping stage... As for Litta Soheila Sohi, she has been posting some mediocre scores at best in Europe. Asian small tour format without piaffe should suit her though, since she usually loses a lot of points there. However she most likely won't be finishing in the top half anyway.

Apparently publishing the list of nominated entries is a complex socioeconomic activity that requires a great deal of analysis and planning... Too bad, since otherwise FEI is having quite comprehensive WEG microsite. Something we can only dream for with many other federations.

"Wild cards"

I'd pay to watch Nepal vs Maldives.

I'd be surprised if they don't have some Americans or Australians in the team.

Still less ridiculous than women's football tournament in 2014 when Hong Kong qualified for quarterfinals by virtue of losing both group matches 5:0.

And so goes the tennis.