First Impressions: Olympic Equestrian Venue at Versailles

Our Paris Olympics reporter provides a sneak peek of the equestrian venue at Versailles before eventing kicks off the 2024 Summer Games.

Seeing the Chateau de Versailles for the first time is an experience sure to render any visitor speechless. Add into the mix a spectacularly stunning equestrian venue built in homage to the horse and equine history in French culture, and it becomes almost indescribable.

The 2024 Paris Olympics designated Versailles as the equestrian venue, and while it’s situated a good 30 minutes from the Paris city center, the distance has benefits. It promotes a feeling of peace and almost pleasant isolation away from the buzz of the other main venues.

Venue at Versailles: U.S. Eventing Team member Boyd Martin schooled his Olympic mount Fedarman B in one of the warm-up rings before the equestrian events kick off tomorrow with eventing dressage. | Courtesy, US Equestrian

Versailles is a natural fit for equestrian sports. After all, the history of horses runs deep at the venue. King Louis XIV’s stabled his horses here, and the infrastructure gradually grew to house no fewer than 2,200 horses at one point in time. Today, equestrian culture still permeates the ambiance. Equestrian art is showcased throughout the venue (including a special Olympic display), and it operates a fully functioning riding school.

Designers meticulously built the venue with every detail heeded and intention obvious throughout. In 2023, the organizing committee for the Paris Olympics held an abbreviated testing of the facility, primarily focusing on the cross-country layout conceptualized by French course-designer Pierre Le Goupil. This test provided important insight into the venue’s construction.

Eventers will head toward the venue’s massive stadium over the final water obstacle. | © Sally Spickard
Riders had the opportunity to size up the first water obstacle on the cross-country course. | © Sally Spickard

Creating Versailles’ Equestrian Venue

To help level the arena field, large pieces of turf were placed under the grand strand—all of which will be removed after the Games—and soil was strategically relocated where needed. Designers also seeded specific variations of grass on the cross-country track to ensure the equine athletes would have proper footing to run on. The grass varieties were also selected to allow the native grass to be eventually reseeded and restored.

The venue is centered around a towering stadium, providivng a vista over the Grand Canal and down to the Palace. At one end of the stadium, there is an Olympic-sized swimming pool. This might seem odd for equestrian fans. But it’s a prominent fixture in the Modern Pentathlon, which will use the grounds for competition later in the Games.

Directly behind the stadium are a series of warm-up rings, one of which is covered to shield riders and their mounts from the toasty summer temperatures. Beyond the warm-up rings, there are temporary stables, which are cooled via refrigeration for the horses’ welfare.

Riders take a first look at the cross-country elements. | © Sally Spickard
Dressage and show jumping will take place in the main stadium at Versailles. | © Sally Spickard

Twisting its way away from the main grounds and through parts of the expansive 2,000 acres that make up the Chateau grounds is the cross-country course, which features 45 jumping efforts and 28 numbered fences. Designers and carpenters beautifully constructed each fence to reflect an element of French culture. They drew inspirations from French fairytales, architecture and artisans. This was Le Goupil’s first Olympic course design. He previously designed courses for the 2023 FEI European Championships and the 2023 Pan American Games.

Final Countdown to Equestrian Kick-Off

Yesterday, each nation had a pre-scheduled time to school in the warm-up rings and on the field of play. This provided the horses with their only opportunity to see part of the competition areas before eventing starts tomorrow. This morning, the horses and traveling reserves trotted up before the Ground Jury to assess readiness for competition. The trot-up is not open to the public. Teams can make substitutes on their team from their traveling reserve before dressage starts without incurring a penalty. Subsequent substitutions carry 20 additional penalties.

This Olympics is vastly different from its most recent counterpart in Tokyo. But it’s also somewhat of an apples-to-oranges comparison. Due to the pandemic, there were no spectators or unaccredited personnel permitted in Tokyo. As a result, organizers paid more attention to spectator accessibility in Paris. This included parking shuttles, scores of food stands and an on-site prepaid VISA kiosk. (The venue only accepts cash and VISA via physical card or Apple Pay.)

Truly, no stone was left unturned as the Paris Games get ready to welcome the first spectators into the equestrian venue on Saturday. The equestrian events will kick off in earnest tomorrow, July 27, with eventing’s dressage phase.

Scenes From Versailles

Pontoon crossing | © Sally Spickard
View from behind the stadium | © Sally Spickard
Fence 2, inspired by Notre-Dame | © Sally Spickard
Second water jumps | © Sally Spickard
Canal view | © Sally Spickard
Fence 1 | © Sally Spickard
First galloping lane | © Sally Spickard
Main stadium entrance | © Sally Spickard
Second galloping lane | © Sally Spickard
Final water jump | © Sally Spickard
Riders getting familiar with the venue | © Sally Spickard
Wood carvings depicting a French fairytale | © Sally Spickard
L.A. 2028 | © Sally Spickard
Hand-off L.A. 2028 jump | © Sally Spickard

For More:

  • For breaking news on the first horse inspection earlier today, click here.
  • For our complete guide to the equestrian schedule, click here.
  • To read about our coverage of the 2024 Paris Games, click here.
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