The beautiful gardens of the Palace of Versailles will transform into the Olympic arena, and the Latvian rider Neretnieka will also be waiting / Article

The competitions in dressage and show jumping will take place in the main arena designed for Olympic purposes by the park’s largest body of water, or the Grand Canal, where 16,000 spectators will be able to sit in the already built temporary stands overlooking the Palace of Versailles. According to the organizers’ estimates, the park will accommodate 40,000 equestrian sports fans in various Olympic competitions.

The local organizers are proud to host the riders and their horses in a place very important to the history of France, recognized as part of the cultural and historical heritage of the world.

1,500 horses once lived in the stables of the Palace of Versailles, so holding the Olympic equestrian competition in the scenic park is historically even more reliably justified.

“Horses have an obvious place in the iconography of the palace, including paintings, sculptures and fountains. It is therefore great that this ancient tradition meets modern sport,” said Christophe Leribaud, director of the Palace of Versailles.

Temporary stables will also be built in the western part of the park, where the horses will also be provided with air conditioning in the tents, and special attention will be paid to the welfare of the animals. Riders in the Olympic Village will have to do without air conditioners in the meantime, as organizers do not want to increase electricity consumption for environmental reasons. For warming up horses in the royal park, there are areas with grass and sand. A five-kilometer long track is also under construction, where drainage is installed to promote the safety of riders and horses with a constant surface condition.

Less than four months before the Olympic equestrian competition, the works have been completed by 70%, said Lorik Joseph, representative of the organizing committee of the Games. The Olympic medals in equestrian will be awarded from July 27 to August 6, while the Paralympians will compete in dressage from September 3 to 7.

Neretnieks with his horse Palladium KJV was one of the first in the Latvian delegation to qualify for the Paris Olympic Games. In most sports, the fight for Olympic tickets is still going on, and the full composition of the delegation will be known only in the summer.

After the conclusion of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, all temporary structures in the gardens of the Palace of Versailles will be dismantled, but the soil will be restored to its previous state and grass will be re-sown. The Palace of Versailles, visited by eight million visitors last year, will also be open to visitors during the games.

The gardens of the Palace of Versailles will also host all the modern pentathlon Olympic competitions, where athletes compete in fencing, swimming and riding, as well as running and shooting combined.