Equestrian

Evidence of horses being ridden dates back to around 3500BC. Chariot racing was popular in Ancient Greece and one of the highlights of the ancient Olympic Games.

Of the modern Olympic disciplines, dressage has its roots in Greek historian Xenophon's work 'On Horsemanship' which covers training of horses although competitive dressage has evolved considerably from the original 'classical' form.

Show jumping started when fences were put up in the English countryside, leading fox hunters to require horses that could jump. But it was not until the second half of the 19th century - notably at the 1869 Dublin Horse Show - that it was adapted for spectators with fences erected in an arena for 'horse leaping'.

Eventing was originally developed to test and prepare cavalry horse with its first competition held in 1902.

Dressage consists of a number of tests in which horse and rider are awarded marks for performing routines containing specified movements.

Jumping sees horse and rider try to clear a number of obstacles (fences) following a prescribed route without dislodging them. If two or more pairings achieve clear rounds, a timed jump-off is used to decide the winner.

Eventing was originally developed to test and prepare cavalry horses. It consists of three different disciplines: a dressage test followed by cross-country - a timed 6km-long ride comprising around 30 solid obstacles - and then jumping.

Ahead of all disciplines, horses must pass veterinary inspection in order to compete. In jumping and cross-country, there are penalties (faults) for hitting or missing out or "refusing" (horse not attempting) an obstacle.

Equestrian sports first featured at the Paris 1900 Olympic Games with competitions in a number of jumping events and polo taking place.

They were omitted from the 1904 Games with only polo included in 1908. But Stockholm 1912 saw the first dressage and eventing competitions, as well as jumping, and these have been fixtures ever since.

Polo made sporadic appearances at the Games - five in total - before being dropped after Berlin 1936.

Only men competed in equestrian initially with riders having to be either commissioned military officers or "gentlemen". This restriction was lifted in 1951 and women competed alongside men in dressage at Helsinki 1952. Women were then admitted to jumping in 1956 and eventing in 1964.

There has been little change to the Olympic programme over the years with individual and team medals at stake in all three disciplines since Amsterdam 1928.

Dressage superstar Isabell Werth took her Olympic tally to seven golds and five silvers at Tokyo 2020. The German also has nine world titles to her name although she only won team bronze at the 2022 World Championships.

Britain's Charlotte Fry and Glamourdale took double individual gold at the last Worlds in Herning with Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour securing team gold for hosts Denmark on board Vamos Amigos.

In jumping, Henrik von Eckermann and King Edward have dominated since Tokyo 2020 where he helped Sweden to team gold. Teammate Peder Fredricsson and All In took individual silver in Tokyo behind Britain's Ben Maher and Explosion W.

Germany and Britain have been the top nations across all three equestrian disciplines for several years, and German Julia Krajewski became the first female Olympic eventing champion at Tokyo 2020 on board Amande de B'Neville. The pair took silver at the 2022 World Championships behind Britain's surprise winner Yasmin Ingham and Banzai du Loir.

In dressage, the Grand Prix test served as the qualifier for both team and individual events.

Team medals were determined by the more demanding Grand Prix Special, while individual medals were decided through the Grand Prix Freestyle to Music, which included 16 compulsory movements choreographed by the rider.

In eventing, horse-and-rider pairs competed in dressage, cross-country, and jumping over three days, with combined scores determining the medals. The team competition was decided by adding individual scores. The top 25 riders after the first jumping round advanced to a second round to compete for individual medals.

The jumping individual competition occurred before the team event, starting with 75 pairs. On the first day, riders completed two rounds, with the top 30 advancing to the final the next day.

For the team jumping event, 20 teams, each with three riders per NOC, competed. All riders completed a single qualifier round, and the top 10 teams by aggregate score progressed to the final, where medals were determined by overall scores.

In both team and individual jumping events, ties in faults were resolved by a jump-off against the clock.