Olympic Preparation & Technical Consultant Program

In January 2022, the Greek National Olympic Committee (NOC), following a proposal by the its President and NOC member, Mr. Spyros Capralos, decided to support Olympic National Federations to hire high-level Technical Consultant for the period 2022-2024. The objectives of the NOC decision were:
• to strengthen the sport in the context of the pre-Olympic preparation for the Paris 2024 Games
• to further educate and develop f Greek coaches

As you know, the Hellenic Equestrian Federation (NF) had already drawn up an Olympic Preparation program with Mr. Antonis Petris as Technical Consultant already as of 2019. That program had Paris 2024 as intermediate goal and Los Angeles 2028 as its main long term goal, but unfortunately it was not implemented as initially designed, because of the outburst of the pandemic and the major disruption of the international sport scene in the last two years. Following the above recent decision of the NOC, the NF re-submitted its program for approval and support. Today, we are excited and proud to officially announce that the NOC has approved our NF’s pre-Olympic preparation program, as submitted, and included our NF in the few Olympic federations selected for support. The selection of our NF program is a huge honor and a confirmation of the appreciation and trust that the NOC shows to the Greek equestrian sport and community. At the same time, this NOC selection comes with a huge responsibility, both collective and individual of each athlete, coach and agent, to prove that we are worthy of it and to make the best use of this unique opportunity for a better future of our sport and athletes. Because Paris 2024 may be the short-term goal of this program, but the real goal is long-term and concerns the "legacy" of the program, i.e. the strengthening of the sport, the training of coaches, the transfer of know-how and the formation of national team mentality and programs, as befits Olympic federations with a vision. The support scheme by the NOC is very carefully designed to suit the specifics of the Greek Olympic federations and the institutional and administrative framework that governs them. The Technical Consultant is engaged and supervised directly by the NOC, which covers the cost of its remuneration, without affecting the annual budget of the NF and the rest of its ongoing federation activity at any level. In simple words, the NOC with its experience realized the importance of relieving the selected Olympic federations and their athletes from internal discussions and undertook to cover the costs, but also to give the right directions.

Following the above, and by virtue of NF Board decision dated 4.4.2022, the Greek Jumping sport team has now a set target on Paris 2024 with a program and a Technical Consultant, Mr. Antonis Petris, that enjoys the support, supervision and guidance ΕΟΕ. The program is strictly within the framework defined by the NOC and described at the beginning of these presents. Therefore, it will only concern Jumping athletes in the age categories of Seniors and Young Riders and the education of their coaches. The program has a duration of two years and is limited to the athletes who will be selected on a case by case basis by the Technical Consultant and provided that they are committed to following the program until its completion. The program will be implemented in Greece for athletes based in Greece and abroad for athletes based in other countries. The intermediate goals of the pre-Olympic Preparation program comprise indicatively the following events : Longines EEF Series 2022 and 2023, Balkan Championships 2022 and 2023 (only for Seniors and Young Riders), Mediterranean Games 2022, World Championship 2022, World Championship 2022 and 2023, the Special Olympic Qualification Event for Paris 2024 and other individual international events to be selected in consultation between the Technical Consultant, the athletes and their coaches. The Technical Consultant has already received instructions from the NOC and the NF regarding his sport goals and contractual obligations. He, in turn, after studying all recent competition results, will contact Greek Senior and Young Rider athletes at his discretion in order to form his own opinion about the personal condition and that of their horses, their willingness to commit to the program and their availability. After taking into account all the above, he will update the pre-Olympic Preparation program on a real-time basis and will then submit same to the NOC and the NF for regular monitoring. On behalf of the NF, the program will be monitored for sport purposes by the Chair of the NF Jumping Technical Committee, Mr. Stavros Georgopoulos, and for administrative purposes by the NF Secretary General, Mr. George Dimaras.