One Olympic dream will die and another will be realised this week after Team South Africa accepted the Court for Arbitration and Sport’s ruling that there had been an error in the selection of event rider Paul Hart over Alex Peternell for the London Games.
On Saturday Peternell won his appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport against his non-selection for the team after he had been left out. Tubby Reddy, the CEO of the the South African Sport Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc), said on Sunday that they accepted the ruling, but had to go through a series of “processes” before making a final decision. There are two options – replace Hart with Peternell, or have no South African representation in the equestrian competition.
“The South African National Equestrian Federation put forward Paul Hart and Sascoc approved it on that basis,” said Reddy on Sunday. “Peternell took the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Sascoc is comfortable we followed the procedure correctly, taking the nomination of Hart from the South African National Equestrian Federation,” said Reddy. “However, the CAS ruling suggested that it is wrong and we accept that Peternell is due a place in Team South Africa. We will send the CAS ruling to the Equestrian Federation, await their submission and then they will forward their recommendation on the matter to the Sascoc board.”
That suggests that Hart would be going home, with Peternell, who has a base in England, taking over his place. What is less certain is why Sanef selected Hart over Peternell, with the latter being ranked higher than the former. Hart is ranked 442 in the world, while Peternell is ranked 164th. Hart said in an interview last month that it was because his horse was injured: “Yes, (Peternell) did qualify but unfortunately his horse went lame. So, he is out unfortunately,” Hart told radio host Graeme Joffe.
Hart may have a point. Peternell, now 31 and who has lived in England for 10 years as a professional event rider, had a stroke of bad luck when AP Uprising, his favourite, injured a tendon at the end of last year. He had to get used to his new gelding Asih, a German horse, but with wet weather across Britain, he struggled to find an event to take part in. Sanef may have taken that into consideration, but they will have to reconsider their actions now. Peternell wants to compete in London: “It’s every athlete’s dream to compete and win at the Olympics. To participate and experience the whole excitement of the Olympics and the build-up I think is going to be fantastic. I’m very excited about the whole spectacle, and being on a stage with other athletes with no relation to horses is going to be interesting.”
The CAS statement was blunt: “The only rider that Sascoc can now select to compete is Mr Peternell.” The court called on Sascoc to move swiftly in confirming Peternell’s selection. “Sascoc have yet to confirm their new selection decision,” read the statement. “With the competition starting on Tuesday, it is hoped that Sascoc will act quickly to confirm their decision. Otherwise South Africa would be left with no equestrian representative at the London 2012 Olympics; a disastrous outcome not only for equestrians, but for the wider sporting community in South Africa who would have lost the opportunity to see one of their top class athletes compete on the world stage.” – The Star