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Olympic Park to stage Global Champions Tour
The world’s leading show jumping championships will be staged at The International Quarter, adjacent to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, cementing the extraordinary equestrian legacy from the London Olympic Games.
Global Champions Tour will bring world class 5* show jumping to the capital from June 6 – 9 2013 with the full support of Mayor of London Boris Johnson and his Chief of Staff Sir Edward Lister. It will be one of the first international sporting events in the Olympic Park since the London Games and comes only weeks before the site opens fully to the public.
Britain’s Olympic show jumping gold medallists will be competing in the Global Champions Tour event along with the world’s Top 30 riders. Record prize money of around €750,000 will be on offer during the four days of the event. Swiss watchmaker Longines is the main partner and official timekeeper and Eurosport will broadcast the GCT Grand Prix on Saturday worldwide.
The high profile international event will be staged next to the world famous Olympic Stadium and other state-of-the-art Olympic venues like the aquatics centre. An application to stage the event at Kensington Gardens was turned down by the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea. The Olympic venue will be a major visitor attraction and a stunning addition to the prestigious Global Champions Tour circuit. This year’s calendar features new venues in London, Shanghai and Madrid and includes spectacular legs in Monaco, Doha, Cannes, Chantilly and Vienna.
Sir Edward Lister, Chief of Staff to the Mayor of London, said: “I’m delighted that the organisers of the Global Champions Tour have found a new venue in London on The International Quarter, adjacent to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, to host this world class international equestrian event. It is vital that the legacy of the London Olympics and Paralympics are delivered across as many sports as possible to allow as many people as possible to continue to enjoy the success generated by all our medal winners last year. This event will help to do just that.”
Event organiser Peter Phillips of SEL-UK (Sports & Entertainment Ltd), said: “We are delighted that we are still able to bring this world class show jumping series to the UK to build on the fantastic Olympic legacy of Great Britain’s equestrians. It is a great opportunity to stage the competition at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, creating a true link to the legacy of the London Games. We have already received strong support from the local community and look forward to delivering an exciting sporting event for everyone.”
GCT Founder and President Jan Tops, an Olympic gold medallist, said: “The Global Champions Tour ethos is about bringing top-level show jumping to the most exciting and high profile destinations and to continue to reach a wider audience. This is a fantastic venue for GCT’s debut in London, one of the world’s great capital cities. No-one can forget the incredible atmosphere of the London Olympic Games and we are delighted to be staging world class equestrian sport in this exceptional Olympic venue just a year later.”
Iain Graham, Chief Executive for British Showjumping, commented: “We applaud the commitment and proactivity Peter and his team have shown in identifying such a prestigious venue. By identifying the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, they have not only found a superb venue to showcase our sport, but a venue which can only serve to reignite the enthusiasm the Nation embraced us with when Great Britain won Team Gold. One of our Legacy hopes was that we would be able to bring world class Showjumping back into the heart of the city where so many Olympic dreams were made; we feel extremely fortunate to see these hopes realised.”
A grandstand for 3,000 spectators, paying between £10 and £50, will be erected around the arena with corporate hospitality marquees for 700 people alongside. A shopping village and a giant TV screen will also be available for the public.