PART 1 of a 3-Part Series
Olaf Petersen has revolutionized showjumping and course designing. In 1988 he introduced the concept of feature fences to the world when he designed not only the courses but also the imaginative jumps incorporating so many different facets of Korean culture for the Seoul Olympic Games.
In 2004 he will become the first man ever to be course designer at two Olympic Games as he has been appointed for the Athens Olympics.
In between he done it all: World Championships, World Cup Finals, European Finals, and almost every important showjumping event.
He was appointed chairman of the FEI's Jumping Committee in 1996 and was recently reappointed to a second term. It makes him the most powerful man in the showjumping world today.
Olaf was in Kuala Lumpur for the launch of the Kuala Lumpur International Showjumping Grand Prix 2002 recently. Malaysia's national showjumping coach Peter Imran Winton arranged an exclusive interview for Equestrian.Com.My. If the you find that the interview full of course designing references it is because Peter Abisheganaden, who spent more than two hours with Olaf over three sessions, is also a course designer.
We found Olaf Petersen an intriguing man. He is a man who obviously enjoys what he does. He has a passion for the sport like few others we have met. He is the FEI's face of showjumping. As chairman of the Jumping Committee he has instituted many changes to the sport of showjumping. Yet he is pragmatic when it comes to what can and can't be done in the world of showjumping.
Olaf combines many complex qualities. As a businessman and a professional he understands that equestrian sport and especially showjumping is big business. He runs his own business producing fences, works for numerous events and organizations as a consultant, organiser, course designer or technical delegate. He even runs his own website: www.Olaf-Petersen.com
On the morning of the launch of the KLIS Grand Prix I was still trying to recover from what was an exhausting weekend organising and riding at the TNB Equestrian International 2001 when I was received a call from Peter Winton. I was told that Olaf had consented to the interview, that I had 30 minutes of his time and to get to the J.W. Marriott Hotel by 11:30 am. Incredibly the interview stretched out over a much longer period of time, and as he relaxed and we discussed many different areas of equestrian sport in Asia I just kept the tape deck recording. Much of the time I wasn't sure if I was interviewing Mr. Petersen or if Mr. Petersen was interviewing me.
Here it is:
Peter Abisheganaden: As the pre-eminent course designer in the world and as chairman of the Jumping Committee of the FEI, how do you see course designers playing a role in developing the sport of showjumping in this region?
Olaf Petersen:
Well I think first of all we have to keep the costs low. Course designers were used to fly Business Class when they left Europe. Keep the costs low not only in countries like Malaysia or Kenya or China, but even in Europe. Which big international well-known event still has so much money to spend a business class ticket for a course designer?
We have certainly quite good course designers in Europe but once in a while shows want to use course designers from other parts of the world. In your region you should take international experienced course designers, because at big championships like the Olympics, the Asian Games, like the European Championships riders have to jump courses designed by personalities they have never seen before. Every course designer has his own handwriting, and riders also in your region have to get used to this.
If students go to university they have different teachers. They do not only listens to one big guy. In the same way riders have to "listen" to different course designers and get different experiences. This develops the standard of the riders, of showjumping.
Important is that we course designers help developing the sport and not, as in the old days, insist in a business class ticket. Airlines economy classes are okay nowadays, and connections are most of the time good. I think sporting course designers should show that they are still sportsmen and can sit for twelve and fourteen hours in an economy class seat.
PA: I hear you have a very good CD-Rom for course plans. I'd like to get one of these because I am a candidate course designer myself.
OP: Are you? When and where did you do your courses?
PA: The last course I did was with Dr. Arno Gego in Sydney in 1999 when I qualified as an FEI International Candidate. I have also done courses with Paul Weier and worked with him many times. One year when I broke my leg so I couldn't ride and I worked with Paul at the Indonesian World Cup series.
OP: That is very important for our sport. We have to get course designers who have been sitting on a horse, who have been jumping. In my eyes it is not important if a course designer jumped 1.40 m or 1.50 m or 1.60 m. Even at 1.30 m he can get the experience: What is the feeling coming around a turn approaching a water jump or a treble combination? Course designers must be able to build with the feeling as if they are jumping their courses themselves.
PA: For me I think this is the direction I am going to go when I finish competitive riding, which may be quite soon.
OP: What's your age?
PA: I'm forty-one
OP: Much too early to finish. I just broke my collarbone in a riding accident. I'm still riding, still jumping. I didn't stop riding yet.
PA: No, no, I won't stop riding completely but I don't think I'll be competing at the big championships like the Asian Games for much longer.
PA: You have a very busy programme next year with the World Equestrian Games and even Asian Games. Will you be course designing for the KLIS Grand Prix?
OP: Yes I have accepted to build the KLIS Grand Prix. Next year I will be the FEI Technical Delegate at the World Equestrian Games till the end of September, then I go to the Asian Games in Pusan, Korea where I will be Technical Delegate as well. Do you think my wife is happy that I will be away for six weeks again? Three weeks after these great events the KLIS Grand Prix takes place.
PA: The KLIS Grand Prix is well timed then.
OP: For the Europeans and Americans their highlight is the World Equestrian Games. After that they start with their indoor season in November. Therefore I think these dates are perfectly chosen because then the top riders can come here.
Nowadays it is quite easy to fly horses. Many riders think it is much less traveling stress for horses by plane than by car. When we go by car on the European roads horses stay for 7, 8, 9, 10 hours in the car. This is much more stress than being on a plane.
PA: So you think we'll get the best riders from Europe?
OP: Ya, ya, I'm quite sure. If the money is good - and I have heard that the money will be good?we are living in a professional world now, and its not only a title that is interesting for the riders. It is the big money in their own pocket. They do everything for it.
PA: With the classes at the KLIS Grand Prix show, do you see any Asian involvement?
OP: I hope and that is what Peter (Winton) told me. The idea is that Malaysian riders are going to compete in the show. When you look at Asia, Japan has been doing very well at the Olympics and the World Equestrian Games. So certainly Japan is a power in Asia, and I also heard positive remarks about your (Malaysian) riders. It will be interesting for Asia and especially the home riders to compete against the best in the world.
PA: Will they be able to compete against the best in the world, in terms of the heights? It is going to be as big as European Grand Prix (1.60 m) while our riders are used to jumping only 1.40 m
OP: Well we will see. When I look at the European shows, there are European riders with horses that jump 1.40 m as well as 1.50. When we look at the European World Cup shows, there are 1.50 m classes, the big ones are 1.60 m. But as you know as a rider and as a course designer, 1.50 m can be very difficult or less difficult. It depends what a course designer asks for. The height is only one part of the difficulty of the course. As a course designer you can make the course of 1.50 m very tough, and the other way around
If your horses have the capacity to jump 1.50 m then it is the task and the art of the course designer to build up the horses and riders to perform on this level at a show, even if they have not done this before. I personally am very proud if I have a four days show and start at 1.40 m, and by the Sunday the horses and riders can jump 1.50 m. This is like being at a university. The professor not only tests what you have learned until now. He has to increase the knowledge of the student. This is the task of the course designer, too, that's the way I see it, that the course designer leads the riders to a higher level. Starting probably on Thursday with 1.40 m and be able by Sunday to jump 1.50 m. Not all, but the best.
PA: We saw our best from the South East Asian League last year, Helena Gabrielsson who is actually Swedish riding at the Gothenburg World Cup Finals and she came back and she said look the best from our league is really not ready for this type of show now. So we talked amongst ourselves and we will discuss it again after the SEA Games but we know we must raise our heights to 1.45 m or 1.50 m in our World Cup League if we going to compete in Europe with these horses and riders is to make any sense. What would you recommend that we do between now and next year to make sure that we are going to do 1.50 m?
OP: Let me ask you first who is your trainer? How do you train? Are all the riders located in different riding clubs? Is there some kind of a national trainer?
PA: In Malaysia there is a national trainer - Peter Winton. We are talking about people from South East Asia. There are riders from Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, and Philippines. Generally it is club based.
OP: Is it easy for horses to cross borders here or are there any veterinary restrictions?
PA: There are veterinary restrictions for some countries. But there is some veterinary protocol for World Cup and SEA Games horses. They are able to come in with a simple number of tests and go into isolated stables. We have been doing this type of thing since 1996. But is it costly because from Thailand and Singapore they are able to come by road, but from Indonesia they have to fly or come by ship, and Philippines the same.
OP: Is this expensive?
PA: Amazingly you can fly from Malaysia to Europe for the same price as flying a horse to Indonesia.
OP: If you decide to make one step forward for next year then you have to start in the winter season with the training. You cannot just sit here and suddenly your horses are going to jump 1.50 m.
No, it means to develop a training programme, with whoever you have. If it is Peter (Winton), then with Peter. Peter is very experienced. He has done this in many parts of the world. He should go on to educate the riders.
And then you should bring in next year for your World Cup classes experienced and top course designers, who know the problems. What we discuss here is not only a problem of South East Asia. It is a problem of many parts of the world. Therefore you have to bring in course designers who have seen the world. They should come here and educate the riders in connection with their national trainers in special courses.
In the beginning of the season they start with nicer distances and increase the height step by step, centimeter by centimeter. Later on they start adding more difficult distances.
It would be a wise if some trainers, lets say Peter, sit together with me or some other experienced course designers. Just for half a day, and we make a program of what he should prepare. And then I or whoever comes over and builds one or two or three World Cup courses. That must be a combined program. Certainly this an even better way.
Watch out for the next week for PART 2...
