The CHIO Rotterdam ( Concours Hippique International Officiel) is an annual international

horse show A horse show is a judged exhibition of horses and ponies. Many different horse breeds and equestrian disciplines hold competitions worldwide, from local to the international levels. Most horse shows run from one to three days, sometimes longe ...

held in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. The show is held every year in June. Is the largest international equestrian outdoor event in The Netherlands, hosted at the 'Rotterdamse Manege' in

Kralingen Kralingen is a former village in the Dutch province of South Holland, now a neighbourhood of Rotterdam. It is located about 3 kilometres east of the city centre, in the borough Kralingen-Crooswijk. Kralingen was a separate municipality until 1895 ...

The event

Two equestrian disciplines,

show-jumping Show jumping is a part of a group of English riding equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes are commonly seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics. Sometimes shows ...

and dressage, are part of the CHIO Rotterdam in which both competitions hosts the Nations Cup. Only one Nations Cup in each discipline can be staged in a country, according to the regulations of the

International Federation for Equestrian Sports The International Federation for Equestrian Sports (, FEI) is the international governing body of equestrian sports. The FEI headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland. An FEI code of conduct protects the welfare of the horses from physical a ...

, the FEI. For show-jumping the 5* CSI event is part of the program, while for dressage the 5* CDI event is part of the program. Hosting a 5* in both show-jumping and dressage, making it one of the most prestigious equestrian shows in the world.

History

In 1937 the Rotterdam local riding school hosted its first national show at a substantial piece of land. Also in 1939 and 1940 the local riding school hosted the two-day event, but were forced to quit because of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. In 1947 the local show was back on the calendar and also welcomed riders from Belgium. The first official international edition of CHIO Rotterdam was in 1948, which makes it the oldest international sport event in the city of Rotterdam. Already during the first edition of the show, a nations cup in show-jumping was held, while dressage was not yet not part of the event. In 1961 a permanent tribune was built for the CHIO Rotterdam, which was sponsored by several local businesses in Rotterdam. The same year the freestyle to music in dressage was introduced. Winner of the first dressage freestyle was the late German

Reiner Klimke Reiner Klimke (; 14 January 1936 – 17 August 1999) was a German equestrian, who won six gold and two bronze medals in dressage at the Summer Olympics — a record for equestrian events that has since been surpassed. He appeared in six Ol ...

. A year later, in 1962, the Nations Cup for dressage was also introduced. In 1967 the CHIO Rotterdam hosted the European Championships for show-jumping, celebrating its 20th anniversary. Ten years later in 1979, Rotterdam again hosted the European Championships for show-jumping. In 1980 the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

were

boycotted A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict so ...

by a major number of countries because of the protest against the

Soviet invasion of Afghanistan The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

. CHIO Rotterdam was designated to organize the alternative Olympic Games for equestrian and was won by Austrian

Hugo Simon Hugo Simon (born 3 August 1942) is an Olympic medal-winning show jumper who took part in six Olympics between 1972 and 1996 (1980 excepted). Before his first Olympic appearance, he competed for West Germany, but in 1972 became an Austrian citize ...

. Nine years later, CHIO Rotterdam hosted again the European Championships for show-jumping. The 90's was a difficult decade for the organization as the standards of the International Federation became stricter, the costs of organizing the event became significantly high because of the growth, and the municipality in Rotterdam could not agree on the progress and organization surrounding the event. The CHIO Rotterdam takes place in a forest and to further expand, 51 trees had to be cut to make the expansion possible. Ultimately, the plan fell through. Also a setback in the 1990s was the fire at the Rotterdamse Manege, which resulted in the destruction of the specially built tribune. Emmelie Scholtens-Rotterdam2017

In the 2000s the event is able to grow again and a new era for the event begins, while the popularity of equestrian in The Netherlands was rising. The grass in the main arena was replaced by sand and dressage moved from the smaller second arena to the main arena, while the event became more popular by visitors because of the expansion of exhibitors and more entertainment besides the sport. In 2006 Dutch Olympic gold medalist

Anky van Grunsven Theodora Elisabeth Gerarda "Anky" van Grunsven (born 2 January 1968) is a Dutch dressage champion who is the only rider to record three successive Olympic wins in the same event. Along with he ...

sets a new world record with her horse

Salinero IPS Salinero (formerly ''Keltec'' Salinero and ''Gestion'' Salinero; 6 May 1994 – December 2022) was a horse ridden by the Dutch equestrian Anky van Grunsven in the sport of dressage. When Sjef Janssen noticed the potential the hors ...

in the freestyle to music. In 2011 a complete new modern tribune was built which resulted in the allocation of the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

for dressage. In 2019, for the first time in history the CHIO Rotterdam hosted a multi discipline European Championship for show-jumping, dressage as well as

Para-equestrian Para-equestrian is an equestrian sport governed by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI), and includes two competitive events: One is para-equestrian dressage, which is conducted under the same basic rules as conventional dr ...

. In 2023, the FEI announced that Rotterdam will be part of a new format of the show-jumping Nations Cup, the League of Nations. Only five competitions are part of the League of Nations, of which two are on European soil.

References

External links

* {{CHIO Rotterdam Show jumping events Dressage events Sports competitions in Rotterdam Equestrian sports competitions in the Netherlands FEI-recognized competition Equestrian sports stubs

The event

History

See also

References

External links