(Reuters) – The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Thursday dismissed an appeal by the Danish Modern Pentathlon Association (MPADK) against the sport’s governing body UIPM for its decision to drop horse riding from the Olympic programme from 2028.
The UIPM decided in November 2021 to remove horse riding from the 2028 Los Angeles Games in the wake of an outcry after a German coach punched a horse that refused to jump a fence at the Tokyo Games.
In February 2022, the MPADK filed an appeal to the CAS to reverse the decision, saying the UIPM’s Executive Board had no power to take the decision and had breached the statutes and the UIPM Code of Ethics.
“Having considered all the evidence put before it, the CAS Panel dismissed the appeal and confirmed the validity of the Challenged Decision. The decision was issued to the parties today,” CAS said in a statement on Thursday.
Modern pentathlon was introduced at the 1912 Stockholm Games as a representation of the skills required of a cavalry officer — fencing, swimming, equestrianism, shooting and running.
The sport’s governing body said in May it had selected two variations of obstacle racing for testing from more than 60 options to replace equestrianism.
That decision came after German coach Kim Raisner struck a horse at last year’s Tokyo Olympics when it refused to jump a fence, leading to criticism of the sport.
(Reporting by Manasi Pathak in Bengaluru; editing by Clare Fallon)
