138 SIDELINES FEBRUARY 2014
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
Continued on page 140
By Darlene Ricker
W
ill polo become an Olympic sport again? That’s been
a big question in polo circles since 1936, the last year
the sport was included as an Olympic discipline.
If the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games 2014 in Normandy
is any indication, the signs are promising. For the first time in the
Games history, polo will be showcased as a demonstration event.
With more than half a million spectators expected during the
Games, this may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to put polo
back on the Olympic map.
The venue will be Deauville, an epicenter of polo in northern
France, one of the world’s top polo-playing nations. France will play
a mixed-nations team in an 18-goal exhibition game September 6
at the Deauville International Polo Club. Organizers say the goal
of the demonstration is to show people how they can learn to play
polo in a club setting and in particular, in France.
“We are very excited that polo will be in the Games. It will be
very good for the sport and for Deauville,” said Philippe Bouchara,
Deauville IPC president, who serves as technical director of the
French Polo Federation (FFP). And what if this could herald the
reinstatement of polo on the Olympic slate? “Of course, that would
be wonderful!”
It certainly doesn’t hurt the cause that Fabien Grobon, CEO of
the 2014 Games, is an avid polo player. When you speak with him,
his enthusiasm for the sport is contagious. “An opportunity was
missed to do a polo demonstration at the London Olympics,” he
said. “If there is one country where you can do that, it’s England.
Polo is very much a part of its DNA.”
The sport is also popular in the United States, where the most
recent edition of Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games was held in
2010. Although few people were aware, an exhibition polo match
took place there in Lexington, Kentucky. “Apparently the U.S.
played Canada in a field somewhere at the Kentucky Horse Park,
e
World Equestrian Games
Get Ready
For Polo In
Normandy
Polo at the Deauville International Polo Club.
All photos by R&B Press/P.Renauldon
Players celebrate on the podium at the Chantilly Polo Club.
