by Nancy Jaffer | Oct 22, 2020
After nine years, Laura Graves and Curt Maes, co-owners of dressage sensation Verdades, have gotten married.
Curt has been a partner in the success of Diddy and Laura, the first American dressage rider to be ranked number one in the world. The Olympic team bronze medalist who won double silver at the 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games. did not make a bid for the Tokyo Olympics, retiring Diddy at the beginning of this year.
Curt and Laura
The couple lives in Geneva., Fla., where Laura is bringing along horses that she hopes will be future grand prix stars. They include SenSation HW, a seven-year-old black gelding who was the Markel/USEF five- and six-year-old national champion.
by Nancy Jaffer | Oct 22, 2020
The Vermont Summer Festival, which was held at HITS’ Saugerties, N.Y., facility this year due to Covid restrictions in is home state, is returning to its regular venue in 2021. However, HITS is remaining on board to handle the logistics.
“I am very excited to be a part of what John has created in Vermont, and continue the history and tradition of this circuit,” said HITS President Tom Struzzieri, citing his long relationship with the Vermont shows’ organizer, John Ammerman.
“For John to use myself and HITS to run these events on his behalf is flattering. I am confident that we can live up to the confidence he is demonstrating in HITS.”
The shows will run July 6-Aug. 15 in East Dorset, Vt.
by Nancy Jaffer | Oct 22, 2020
The 2021 European Championships in show jumping and dressage–which had been cancelled when the Olympics were moved to next year–are on again.
The championships were called off when the Olympics were rescheduled to keep the focus on the Tokyo Games. But a number of national federations and the European Equestrian Federation pointed out that many nations had more competitors and horses available to compete than just the three from each county who would be riding in Japan.
The logic prevailed, with the European Jumping Championships allocated to Riesenbeck, Germany, Aug. 30-Sept. 4 and the dressage championships going to Hagen, Germany Sept. 7-12, pending final confirmation from the latter organizer. If these venues for some reason cannot host the championships, they won’t be re-bid.
The European eventing championships are not being held because organizers who expressed interest did not follow through. The European Paralympic championships also will not be held so those competitors can concentrate on their mission in Tokyo.
The European championships are staged on odd-numbered years in the Olympic cycle. The equivalent in the Western Hemisphere is the Pan American Games, but they are held only once during the Olympic cycle.
by Nancy Jaffer | Oct 16, 2020
Moments of glory with horses usually are fleeting, but the disappointments too often seem to come like clockwork.
Kim Herslow actually enjoyed more than few of those splendid special moments with Rosmarin, a Hanoverian she bought in Germany as a three-year-old and developed to the FEI level.
Kim and Reno at the 2015 Pan American Games. (Photo © 2015 by Nancy Jaffer)
During her best year with the son of Rosentanz, known as Reno, she emerged victorious in the Small Tour at the Munich show before going on to the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, where teams were composed of both Small and Big Tour riders.
In Toronto, her score of 77.15 percent in the Intermediare I was just 0.02 percent behind the total earned by her teammate, Laura Graves, on Verdades in the Grand Prix Special, clinching gold for the U.S. squad and a spot on the podium for Kim.
Kim Herslow on the podium at the 2015 Pan Am Games with gold medal teammates Steffen Peters, Sabine Schut-Kery and Laura Graves (Photo © 2015 by Nancy Jaffer)
After that, she was pointing Reno to Grand Prix and all kinds of possibilities. But in January 2016, he underwent surgery for a cyst that was inside his stifle joint above the cruciate ligament. After he recovered and was being brought back to fitness, he had a suspensory issue, so she decided to semi-retire him.
“If you own horses, it is pretty much guaranteed that you will deal with an injury at some point that will sideline them in their training,” she knows.
“What a heartbreaker, but he’s happy; he owes me nothing.”
Kim enjoys hacking Reno around her Upper Creek Farm in Stockton, where he is the first horse she rides every day.
Kim hacking Reno around the farm. Photo © by Nancy Jaffer
“I’m letting him enjoy what he wants to do and not what he has to do,” she said of Reno, now 15.
“He was a great partner and we had a lot of harmony together, so the bar is high.”
But his problems put her upper level career on hold. She had some rides that kept her in practice, at least, but nothing that she could develop the way she had done with Reno.
Then she met Elvis.
No, not that Elvis. This one is Elvis HI, a Lusitano. She owns him in partnership with Ailene Cascio of Mountain Lakes, who trained with Anne Gribbons. A median score of 70.881 has Elvis ranked first in the U.S. Dressage Federation standings for Prix St. Georges horses registered with the International Andalusian and Lusitano Horse Association.
Kim competing Elvis at the Red Tail Farm show in Bedminster this summer. (Photo © 2020 by Nancy Jaffer)
“That’s pretty darn good for his first time out showing PSG,” said Kim, noting she had just moved him up to that division in June.
Elvis, by Travesso SC out of Quizumba HI, was purchased as a three-year-old coming four from Jorge Gabriel, a Brazilian based in Florida and Massachusetts who trains Elmo Santana, another nice Lusitano.
Kim, 49, has been riding Elvis for four years. She notes people can’t figure out what breed he is while watching him go, because he doesn’t have what many consider the typical Lusitano look.
“I took my time bringing him through the levels,” said Kim, who is schooling Grand Prix with the 12-year-old.
He’s already exhibiting a “classical and correct” piaffe, she reported.
“As he gets stronger and more supple and understands how to use his body better, it gets better and better.”
She showed him this summer at the HITS facility in Saugerties, N.Y. Because of the venue’s large size, she sees it as a good place “to get a horse’s feet wet” in practice for heading to new locations as his show career progresses.
Riding a Lusitano requires different techniques than riding a warmblood, she found.
“His walk used to be lateral and now I’m getting 8s and 9s on his collected walk. It involves teaching them (Lusitanos) to use their core and not just brace their neck and run really fast. That is the trick for that breed, I think.
Linda Zang, an international judge who has officiated at the Olympics and gives clinics at Kim’s barn, helped with Elvis. The guidance enabled Kim to improve Elvis and “bring it up to the level that it is now, with a feel that is really solid and controlled in a nice contact, where he’s always on the vertical and always going out to the bit.”
Although Kim usually spends the winter in Florida, competing at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival, she notes that as questions about Covid keep coming up, “it’s not the best year to head down to Florida.” For next season, she plans to train at her own stable, with its insulated indoor arena.
She can get coaching via the internet with a Pixem video system (she is grateful for the help of her fiancée, internet technology specialist Lenny Neugarten in making that work.) So Kim has been able to benefit from lessons with U.S. dressage technical advisor Debbie McDonald and Ali Brock, a member of the USA’s 2016 bronze medal Olympic team, even though they’re not within 1,000 miles of New Jersey.
“It is nice to see she has another horse going down centerline,” Debbie commented.
Ali mentioned, “I had the wonderful opportunity to compete alongside Kim and Reno starting in 2015 at the Nations Cup in Wellington, followed by the Pan Am short list tour in Europe, the Gladstone Pan Am training camp, and all the way up to team gold in Toronto.
“You really get to know someone when they are under the pressure of competing, and there was a tremendous amount of pressure to achieve team gold in Toronto. Kim is one of my most favorite people ever–she is an amazing horsewoman, teammate, barnmate and friend who is honest, trustworthy, supportive, caring and kind,” Ali added.
“She is a heck of a competitor and exactly the kind of person who you’d want on your team. I am so happy to see her bringing on new horses, and have enjoyed helping her with Elvis. He is a very-hard working, serious, sensitive guy who has really bloomed under Kim’s training and nurturing. I fully expect to see them in the Grand Prix ring in the next couple of years.”
Kim gives Elvis a pat after a good test. (Photo © 2020 by Nancy Jaffer)
Hard work is also Kim’s hallmark. After the former hunter/jumper rider discovered dressage at Delaware Valley College in Pennsylvania, her father, John Herslow, gave her the opportunity of having her own farm, but required her to be involved in building it.
When Upper Creek first opened, Kim did all the work because she couldn’t afford to pay for any help. The business progressed, but she noted, “All the horses I produced I had to sell as they started getting good, so I could pay my bills. I appreciate everything more because I’ve worked that hard for it.”
In addition to Elvis, Kim is bringing along a five-year-old, Feymar (Furstenball X Weltmeyer) who has “a super brain” She was second in the ranking of the Bundeschampionat for Oldenburgs as a three-year-old. But it was the fact that she reminded Kim of Reno which made a connection.
“That’s one of the reasons I bought her,” she explained, noting the mare is on a slower track than Reno while he was developing. Even so, “She’ll be a powerhouse, I think. We’ve just got to see how it plays out.”
She knows that patience is the only was to make things happen with her horses.
When it comes to Elvis practicing piaffe, “I’m being careful to keep it fun. Grand Prix isn’t that far off for him. He’s going to be one of those horses that wants to do it. He’s trying really hard for me, and that’s a good feeling.”
She’s willing to spend “whatever time it takes to give him the confidence and make him super consistent. If he shows potential that he’s going to step up to that plate, for sure we could think about doing some bigger things.”
by Nancy Jaffer | Oct 14, 2020
As we know far too well by now, Covid-19 has wrought changes in a horse show routine that likely will never return to its pre-pandemic state.
Those who have adjusted will fare best when the virus is just a bad memory. So on the plus side, it has been a time for the nimble to innovate and find a way to clear the obstacles they have encountered in this difficult era.
Derek Braun, the man behind the Split Rock Jumping Tour, knows all about difficult.
New Mexico’s tight Covid restrictions forced the cancellation of his August 2-star show in Santa Fe. Split Rock’s competition that ran with April’s Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event wasn’t held when the eventing had to be called off.
Rowan Willis and Blue Movie over the Split Rock fence in the 2019 grand prix during the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event. (Photo © 2019 by Nancy Jaffer)
Then forest fires added to the burden of a bad year, leading to cancellation of the first week of Derek’s Sonoma, Calif., show. Prior to this, the California show was Split Rock’s biggest, selling out annually.
“It was a worst case scenario disaster,” Derek remembered.
“We dealt with so many variables we could never have predicted during a two-week span in California. To give everybody the security of the welfare of horses and rider beyond Covid was difficult to maneuver. My team gained a lot of grit and learned a lot from that experience.”
Oh, and his first Longines FEI World Cup qualifier, a 4-star scheduled for an arena in Fort Worth during December, also had to be cancelled because of Covid, which wreaked havoc on 2020’s indoor shows.
But he found a pivot position by expanding into the hunters. The catalyst was his purchase of the two Country Heir shows in Kentucky which, unlike his fixtures, offered hunter competition.
“I can’t say I would have thought that I would go in the direction of hunters in general because I’m so passionate about show jumping,” said Derek, but he emphasized, “In the past, I’ve always been open to any opportunity that I thought was good for myself and my team and the direction of our tour.”
Now, he believes, hunter competition is “a natural progression for myself and my team.”
Derek pointed out that the Kentucky Horse Park, home of Country Heir, is eight minutes from his farm, so it was a perfect fit.
“It is a very popular show in general. We hope to grow both sides of that event,” he continued, noting plans call for bolstering the jumper side of Country Heir and at the same time adding “some unique touches” to the hunter side, so competitors can “feel special and like they’re getting what they paid for.”
That may include live streaming, more extravagant awards presentations and rider bonuses for every division “just providing more opportunities and experience for everybody in every division. We’re so used to doing that for every division for every class in the jumper ring. We’re going to bring that level of detail and attention and exposure of all the hunter divisions as well.”
With the ice broken, the hunters are becoming part of Split Rock’s plans not only for Country Heir, but likely for a couple of other events that “may also incorporate hunters in some fashion,” said Derek, adding the Split Rock team is thinking of adding such divisions to the Santa Fe and Columbus, Ohio, shows.
“ I feel we’re really ready to handle a 1,500-2,000 horse horse show, whereas we’re used to handling 400 horses. It’s a totally different ballgame. We want to bring the same level of organization and attention to a 1,500-plus horse show,” said Derek.
“It’s the right time to hit it out of the park.”
by Nancy Jaffer | Oct 14, 2020
A bronze statue that is half life-size will stand as a tribute to the marvelous dressage horse Valegro, three-time Olympic gold and two-time world championships gold winner.
The statue will go up in Newent, a small town in Great Britain’s Gloucestershire, where he is stabled. Will his rider Charlotte Dujardin get her own statue next?
Valegro gave dressage an enormous popularity boost with his grace and style. (Photo © 2015 by Nancy Jaffer)
No word on that (there’s already a gold-plated mailbox in town to commemorate Charlotte’s achievement) but an application was submitted by the Newent Initiative Trust to erect Valero’s statue. Plans call for the statue of the 18-year-old gelding to become a visitor destination in the town first mentioned in the 1086 Domesday Book.
Valegro and Charlotte won the Grand Prix Special and the Freestyle at the 2014 World Equestrian Games, and Olympic titles in the team and individual dressage in the 2012 London Olympics, as well as the individual gold at Rio in 2016 before the horse retired in a moving ceremony at Olympia.
by Nancy Jaffer | Oct 12, 2020
The Garden State Driving Event at the Horse Park of New Jersey in Allentown will host the advanced single and four-in-hand driving championships Oct. 7-10 2021.
Those competitions previously were held at the Live Oak show in Ocala, Fla.
The Garden State CDE last weekend presented two intermediate national championships. Sarah Reitz of Honeoye Falls, N.Y., won the singles competition with Awesome George, a 13-year-old Dutch harness cross gelding. They went into the lead in the marathon, and kept their edge to take the title.
Yvette Harris of Woodbine, Md., took the pair pony title with her mares, Suki, an eight-year-old Welsh cross and Morwell Amber, a 14-year-old Welsh. They stood first after the dressage phase and stayed in front until the trophy was awarded.
by Nancy Jaffer | Oct 11, 2020
The ad Kevin Babington placed in the local newspaper during the late 1980s read something like this: “Young Irish lad specializing in problem horses…”
That rang a bell with Deborah and Richard Roslowski of West Amwell, who just happened to have a problem horse.
“We said, `Let’s give Kevin Babington a chance,’ and he’s been our buddy ever since,” noted Deborah.
The Roslowskis and their daughters were Kevin’s first clients after he came over to the U.S. from Ireland. Today, they sold Ride for KBabs T-shirts and I “heart” K Babs dog treats during the second annual Babington benefit show at Duncraven in Titusville, Mercer County. They were among the many volunteers who pitched in to make the show happen because of their commitment to Kevin.
Deborah and Richard Roslowski. (Photo © 2020 by Nancy Jaffer)
Last year, the show was held six weeks after Kevin suffered a life-changing spinal cord injury in a fall during the Hampton Classic grand prix. It ended a riding career that had brought him close to an Olympic medal and left him as a quadriplegic in need of expensive medical care. A group of friends, led by one of his former employees, Jennifer Cassidy of Lambertville, organized the benefit that raised nearly $60,000.
“When I heard about the accident, I just thought, `I’ve got two able hands’ and this is what I thought I could offer. It’s been huge, the incredible support of the staff,” said Jennifer, adding, “I just made the right phone calls to put this together. Everyone stepped up to the plate.”
The Irish flag was proudly on display at Duncraven in honor of Kevin’s homeland. (Photo © 2020 by Nancy Jaffer)
This year, the funds haven’t been counted yet, but entries closed two days early because so many people wanted to ride in the show. Then there were the donations for raffles and sales of items like those the Roslowskis had at their table in front of the stables. It was more challenging to present the show this year because of Covid restrictions, but the enthusiastic turnout overrode that situation.
With lifetime care for someone in Kevin’s condition estimated to run as high as $5 million, money is a key issue. While Kevin, 52, has improved since his accident, he is still confined to a wheelchair.
He has a bit more movement here and there than he did a year ago, and can teach using a headset to connect with someone in his ring, or virtually for students who are at their own barns. But he requires extensive physical therapy, while he has fewer clients seeking his expertise than he once did.
Kevin had a remarkable career in grand prix show jumping until his accident.
So the Duncraven show is special not only for fundraising, but also so people can keep a connection with him.
“It means everything. It means people are still behind him and haven’t forgotten the person he is and what he’s still trying to achieve,” said Kevin’s wife, Dianna, who spent the day at the show thanking everyone and visiting with old friends.
Dianna Babington with a banner that says it all about the Babington cause. (Photo © 2020 by Nancy Jaffer)
“It’s so expensive to keep him moving and put him in the best possible place for recovery. Without the fundraising, we would never be able to do it,” she explained.
It helps pay for the gas in the car that gets him to therapy, for prescriptions, for a nurse when he needs one and the cascade of so many other costs involved in an existence that is very different from the life he enjoyed before the accident.
“These fundraisers really make all of that happen and allow us to keep going. If not, the alternative is probably a shorter lifespan and much less opportunity to recover,” noted Dianna, whose devotion and efforts for her husband and their two daughters never flag, even as she teaches lessons herself.
Duncraven is where Kevin ran his business for years, so the show had the air of a reunion.
“ Most of the people who come here are from the tri-state area and have had some kind of interaction with Kevin or know of him and heard what a great guy he is,” said Dianna.
“It’s really nice to have people turn out.”
The rings stayed busy at the benefit show. (Photo © 2020 by Nancy Jaffer)
Kevin would have liked to come to the show, but logistically, it was impossible for him travel from his base in Florida. So Dianna kept him involved with the day through FaceTiming him and sending photos of the activities.
The Roslowskis’ daughter, Julie Koveloski, was one of those who organized raffles and donations. She started riding with Kevin when she was 10 and noted, “He was like a brother to me, and like a son to my parents.”
Karen Raach, a Pennsylvanian, who handled the silent auction at the show, met Kevin six years ago when she won an auction bid for a lesson. Then she “fell in love with the family” and started taking lessons from Dianna.
Karen Raach, Julie Koveloski and Jennifer Cassidy. (Photo © 2020 by Nancy Jaffer)
One of the items sold at the show is a face mask in the Irish colors designed by Gretchen Ober with the “S” that stands for Superman. Kevin got that nickname, Karen said, when a horse at a show in Ocala three years ago got his leg stuck in a brushbox as people gasped, and did nothing. Kevin, however, jumped off his horse, rushed over to free the horse, and got him under control.
“The people who owned the horse gave him a Superman hat the next day. Ever since then, he’s been called Superman,” said Karen, noting Redfield Tack donated half the masks and a sponsor paid for the others.
There were many such generous donations. Monica Ward of Equ Lifestyle donated two air vests, worth $1,000 each, which has particular significance because since Kevin’s accident, more jumper riders are wearing the vests in an effort to protect themselves from an injury like the one Kevin suffered.
A shamrock fence had special meaning at Duncraven. (Photo © 2020 by Nancy Jaffer)
Stephanie Valducci, who lives on Long Island, sometimes had to drive for as long as four hours (the traffic!) to take lessons with Kevin. She remains his student, but virtually, noting, “it was amazing, it was like he was in the ring with me, even though I was in New York and he was in Florida.” Training with Kevin, you’re part of the family. Anything to support them,” she said; in her case, that was sponsoring a schooling jumper division.
Jennifer, who hopes the show can be two days next year, had many people to thank for this year’s effort, including the trainers who came and brought their clients, the volunteers, secretary Mary Norris, Duncraven owner Tim Fedor, Nancy Wallis, who designed the courses and filled in where needed, as well as Katie Benson, who helped with the prizelist and supplied jumps.
It takes a huge amount of work and devotion to put on the show, but as Jennifer noted, if the situation were reversed, “Kevin would be doing the same thing for anyone else.”
Those who couldn’t make it to the show and want to help the Babington Family Trust can send contributions (which are not tax deductible) to 13254 Casey Road, Loxahatchee, Fla., 33470.
by Nancy Jaffer | Oct 8, 2020
There would be no sport without athletes, but all too often they have gone unheard.
That is changing following Congressional passage of legislation designed to put competitors in a better position to advocate for what they think is important, with more representation on their sports’ National Governing Bodies. At the same time, it means greater control of the way coaches and sports executives operate.
The Empowering Olympic, Paralympic, and Amateur Athletes Act, which must be signed by the President to become law, would enable Congress to decertify NGBs for cause, and it provides more money for the U.S. Center for SafeSport. That agency’s mandate involves protecting athletes from bullying, harassment, hazing, physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, and sexual misconduct.
The legislation proposes that the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee increase funding for SafeSport to $20 million annually, from its $7.5 million allocation in 2019 and $11.5 million this year.
The bill states nothing shall preclude the Center from imposing interim measures or sanctions on an individual before an opportunity for a hearing or arbitration, something that has been controversial in the past. It also does not require the Center to meet a burden of proof higher than the preponderance of the evidence against an accused athlete.
People who deal with SafeSport, either as a victim or the accused, often have trouble understanding what is happening. That’s because the process is far different than the judicial proceedings with which they are more familiar, whether from personal experience or watching it on TV.
In an effort to determine how athletes view the agency and how they think it could be improved, SafeSport is seeking their answers through an online survey. It is part of a collaborative effort between a dozen national governing bodies, Paralympic sport organizations, the USOPC and athlete representatives from various sports.
“This is the first time Safe Sport is asking for feedback from a large group of athletes from every sport. It is anonymous, and being gathered and processed by a third party,” said Ali Brock, the 2016 Olympic dressage team bronze medalist who is the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s athlete representative for the Olympic disciplines.
Discussing the survey, she noted, “The last two questions (one asking for written feedback about the organization and the second about suggestions to improve it) are the most important if you want Safe Sport to know how you perceive, understand and have confidence in them as an organization and with the process for both the victims and the accused. All the information gathered will be shared with the NGBs and the athletes.
“This is your chance to help influence the direction Safe Sport heads in,” Ali advised.
The survey is open to U.S. Equestrian Federation members over 18 who compete. USEF will begin rolling out word of the survey this week, and those taking the 30-minute online survey will have until Nov. 15 to fill it out.
The Empowering Act, which gives Congress the option to dissolve the board of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, also calls for better athlete representation on the boards of NGBs.
The USEF already is working on that. The federation maintained the bill “will ensure a new standard of transparency and accountability” for the USOPC and NGBs, “providing stronger protections and representation for athletes participating in sport under USOPC administration.”
The legislation calls for increasing athlete representation on boards of directors and committees from 20 percent to 33.3 percent. While athlete reps hold four of the 19 seats on the USEF board, the federation will consider restructuring so athletes hold seven, or more than one-third, of the board seats. Doing the same for all USEF committees also is being considered.
Although mainly focused on protecting athletes in the wake of the sexual abuse scandal at USA Gymnastics, the Empowering Act will also include increased legal aid for athletes in grievance processes.
In the bigger picture, meanwhile, it also enables Congress to decertify national governing bodies if they fail to abide by its provisions.
The International Olympic Committee, however, prohibits government interference in its National Olympic Committees, with interference potentially leading to a suspension, according to a story in the Inside.the Games newsletter.
The USOPC had initially expressed concern about the law, but USOPC President Sarah Hirshland said the law itself should not breach IOC rules.
However, she acknowledged if Congress were to act on the law and unseat members of the USOPC Board, the IOC may consider it a violation of the Olympic Charter.
“It is important to understand, the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee is a federally chartered organization and as such, Congress and the Federal Government has authority and that has existed for some time,” Hirshland said, according to Inside the Games.
“This bill does provide a provision that would allow Congress to essentially unseat the USOPC board. Should Congress take such an action, we do understand that the IOC may consider that a violation of the charter. But the bill itself as it is written, without that action being taken, is not a violation of the charter.”
At the same time she said, “we all understand the implications of that should the federal government make a decision to take action.”
by Nancy Jaffer | Oct 7, 2020
After listening to International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach speak today at a press conference following a meeting of his executive board, it seems the Tokyo Games are on track for 2021–although they will be produced differently than any of their predecessors.
Citing “another very encouraging, precise report” on the status of the Olympics received during the board meeting, Bach noted “progress is being made on producing an Olympic Games fit for a post-Corona world.”
As he pointed out, “Our world will never be as it was at the beginning of this year,” which also means changes made for Tokyo will be considered in planning for the 2022 winter Olympics in Beijing and the 2024 summer Olympics in Paris. While in the past there were “a number of nice-to-haves” in connection with the Games, Bach mentioned, one major initiative will be “simplification, to see how can we concentrate on the essentials of the Games.”
There already has been $280 million saved through more than 50 measures agreed upon by the organizing committee and the IOC. There has been progress on Covid counter-measures, Bach said, commenting about “the potential arrival of a vaccine” and rapid testing to determine who has the disease.
He sees such developments as “methods to be added to the tool box” of how to put on a Games. It is estimated that the one-year postponement of the Olympics will result in $800 million in additional costs, to be added to a total for presenting the Games slated as $12.6 billion at the end of 2019.
Bach noted what has been learned about handling Covid since March offers leads “for good progress in addressing the challenge of the virus,” which will be at the disposal of the IOC and Games organizers next year.
Asked whether the Games could be held behind closed doors without spectators should there be a massive second wave of Covid-19, Bach said he couldn’t speculate on what the situation will be nine or ten months from now. But he did note that even during what some say is a second wave happening now in a number of locations, both professional and amateur sports, including world championships in cycling and triathlon, are being held around the world. At the same time, he didn’t know if the Games organizers will be able to “fill the stands to their full capacity” next July or if social distancing restrictions still will need to be in effect.
Christophe Dubi, the IOC sports director and deputy Olympic Games executive director, noted “there are a number of scenarios” that are possible, and that as things unfold, organizers will “know which tools we’ll use.” Answering a question about what will happen to the opening ceremonies, usually a highlight of the Games, he pointed out it is a “massive undertaking” that “has to be adjusted to a sign of the times.”
Bach is so optimistic that said he can “encourage the Japanese people who have doubts to have confidence in their own efficiency and organizing committee.”
