WEG 1998, 30 September-11 October 1998, Rome (ITA)

The third World Equestrian Games, held in Rome's Flaminio Stadium, in Pratoni del Vivaro and Tenuta Santa Barbara, were an unqualified success, both for the extraordinary sport produced and the excellent and friendly organisation.

The WEG 1998 were awarded to Rome in August last year after the late withdrawal of Dublin (IRL). There was a very short preparation period for an event of such complexity involving five of the six FEI disciplines: Jumping, Dressage at Flaminio Stadium, Eventing and Driving in Pratoni del Vivaro, which was approximately 40 km outside of Rome and Vaulting in Tenuta Santa Barbara.

The first week of competition concluded with Germany's Isabell Werth adding the individual dressage gold medal to the German team title, earned three days before and New Zealand winning both eventing gold medals - individually by Blyth Tait.

A record number of 84 riders competed in Dressage. 92 riders participated in the Three Day Event. Unfortunately, part of the cross country was held under a heavy rain.

Vaulting was held over 4 days in Tenuta Santa Barbara. The vaulting team competition saw the predicted medal winners: Germany ahead of Switzerland and USA. But for the individual competitions, Germany did not win all of the 6 medals as was the case twice before at World Championships, such as in Stockholm (SWE) in 1990. Among the Male Vaulters, Gold and Silver went to the USA and France, while among the female vaulters silver behind Germany went to the USA.

The heavy rain that fell especially on Tuesday of the second week endangered the proper running of the four-in-Hand Driving, but the extraordinary volcanic soil in Pratoni drained all the water. Werner Ulrich (SUI), already Pairs World Champion in 1991, won the gold medal this time with four horses; while the team title went to the Netherlands.

In Jumping, Germany repeated its team gold medal win from the Hague (NED) 1994, ahead of France and Great Britain. The Hungarian rider Joszef Turi, riding Epona Superville, won the Top 25 individual competition on Saturday with the only perfect score.

An exiting change-of-horse Jumping Final ended the 3rd edition of the WEG. 26 years old Rodrigo Pessoa (BRA) took the Gold, ahead of Thierry Pomel (FRA) and the defending Champion, Franke Sloothaak (GER). It was the first time that the World Cup winner also won this major outdoor title in the same year.

During the closing ceremony, the flag of the WEG 1998 was given to the Organising Committee of Jerez 2002 which was present for the duration of the Games. The Organisers of the WEG 2002 are already working hard to fullfil their aim. The FEI is looking forward to this event and wish them all the best in the organisation.

The success of these Games would have been almost impossible without the huge contribution of a number of organisations and personalities, FISE and its President, Cesare Croce, CONI and most especially the MONRIF GROUP of the Riffeser Monti family who provide such excellent sponsorship and management support.

Medication Control

In view of the recent discussion on doping control, it was decided to make an effort to test as many horses possible during the WEG. As the event took place at three different locations, this policy required the involvement of several testing officials. In total, more that 50 horses were tested for the presence of Prohibited Substances. This means that almost 12 horses were tested on average per discipline.

Complete results and other press information on http://www.weg98.com

IN MEMORIAM

Ben Arts, a great personality in the Duth equestrian sport, died in September 1998, aged 82. Between 1949 and 1959, Ben Arts rode in 10 Nations Cup for the Netherlands. Thereafter, he was, for 25 years, the Chef d'Equipe of the Dutch Jumping team which included the European title in 1977 and team silver at the World Championships in 1978. In 1958, he was one of the founders of Jumping Amsterdams and served as its Secretary General until the late eighties. His two daughters, Pia and Proetske also competed successfully on the international level.