The ruling executive board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has postponed a decision over whether or not to move the 2008 Olympic equestrian events from Beijing to Hong Kong.

At the annual meeting of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) in early April, the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) raised a proposal for the Beijing 2008 Olympic equestrian events to be relocated to Hong Kong, about 2,000 kilometres, a three-hour flight, from the Chinese capital.

At the meeting, Wang Wei, secretary-general of the BOCOG, told the FEI the venue change was necessary because of uncertainties over equine diseases and the major difficulties in establishing a disease-free zone in Beijing.

The FEI, however, is strongly opposed to the plan, saying it would cut them off from the rest of the Olympics.

FEI vice-president Freddie Serpieri said recently that such a switch would have very grave repercussions.

Having heard the two sides of the discussion, the executive board made the decision that it would hold further talks with the BOCOG to see whether issues of equine disease are really an insurmountable problem or whether a solution can be found, IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said yesterday.

Since horse racing is the most popular spectator sport in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong side say they are willing to take over the task of hosting the equestrian events.

Hong Kong authorities say that, if authorized to host the equestrian events, they will rebuild the present Shatin race course and surrounding Penfold Park, adding 300 more stables to meet the needs of Olympic training and quarantine.

"The quarantine facilities in Beijing are still like in the 1950s or 60s," said Hao Gaozan, director of Beijing International Equestrian Training Base. "While facilities in Hong Kong have proved to be among the best in the world."

The equestrian competition was originally scheduled for the Beijing Country Equestrian Park in northern Beijing - 34 kilometres from the Olympic Village.

The switch would be the most radical change of venues for an Olympic event.

Only once before has such a switch occurred.

In 1956 equestrian events for the Melbourne Olympic Games were moved to Stockholm, Sweden, because of quarantine restrictions in the host nation Australia.

Hein Verbruggen, head of the IOC coordination commission for the Beijing Games, is to confer with all sides to try to reach an agreement.

No strict deadline has been set but a decision will be taken sooner rather than later, probably this summer, Davies said.

Together with Beijing, five other cities have been appointed as co-hosts of the 2008 Olympic Games. Qingdao will host sailing events, while Tianjin, Qinhuangdao, Shenyang and Shanghai will host football matches.

The BOCOG has so far made no comment on the IOC's decision to postpone its ruling on the equestrian venue.

Timothy Fok, president of the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, said: "The fact that we will be staging the games will raise the profile of the sport itself as well as the profile of sports in the city in general."

(China Daily April 21, 2005)