AsiaNet 90661

TOKYO, July 15, 2021 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

Can horses fly? Well yes, they can if they're Olympic athletes!

And in a piece of history-making, 36 of them flew into Japan last night – the

first full cargo load of horses ever to land in Haneda, the waterfront airport

that serves the greater Tokyo area and which is now welcoming a very different

group of Olympic athletes.

"To see these horses arriving at Haneda airport is a truly historic occasion,

and what makes it even more special is that these are not simply horses, they

are Olympic horses," Administrator of Tokyo International Airport Takahashi

Koji said. "It's a really big night for the airport, and particularly for the

cargo team, and we see it as one of the major milestones of the final countdown

to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games."

The four-legged time travellers are all Equestrian Dressage horses and include

some Olympic superstars, among them Bella Rose, the mare ridden by Germany's

Isabell Werth, the most decorated Olympic equestrian athlete of all time.

Also landing at Haneda en route to the stunning equestrian venue at Baji Koen,

owned by the Japan Racing Association, is Gio, the ride of double Olympic

champion Charlotte Dujardin (GBR), who will be bidding for a three-in-a-row

title in Tokyo.

The 36 equine passengers will be flying the flag for teams from Austria,

Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Netherlands, Portugal and host nation

Japan, as well as individuals from Brazil, Estonia, Finland, Ireland and

Morocco. And they will be joined by a further group of Equestrian Dressage

stars flying into Tokyo tomorrow.

The first Olympic flight out of Europe saw the horses travelling from Liege in

Belgium, where there's even a special airport horse hotel, flying on an

Emirates SkyCargo Boeing 777-F to Dubai, a 90-minute refuel and crew change and

then on to Tokyo.

From a sustainability perspective, Emirates has implemented a number of

initiatives to improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions where operationally

feasible, including its long-standing operation of flexible routings in

partnership with air navigation service providers to create the most efficient

flight plan for each flight. The airline, which operates one of the world's

youngest aircraft fleets, also uses advanced data analytics, machine learning

and AI in its fuel monitoring and aircraft weight management programmes.

Business class travel

The horses fly two per pallet, or flying stable, which is the equivalent of

business class. Their comfort and safety is ensured by flying grooms and an

on-board veterinarian. And, unlike two-legged passengers, the horses not only

get their in-flight meals (including special meal requests of course), but are

able to snack throughout the trip, on hay or haylage, except when they are

taking a nap.

So as they are flying business class, does that mean the horses get flat beds

to sleep in? Although horses might occasionally indulge in a spot of lying down

to snooze in the sun at home, they actually sleep standing up. They have

something called the "stay apparatus", which allows tendons and ligaments to

effectively lock the knees and hocks (in the hind legs) so that they don't fall

over while they're dozing off. So there's no need for flat beds on the flight.

A total of 328 horses will be flown into Tokyo across the two Games and the

complex logistics for this massive airlift have been coordinated by transport

agents, Peden Bloodstock, which has been in charge of Olympic and Paralympic

horse transport since Rome 1960 and is the Official Equine Logistics Partner of

the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), global governing body for

equestrian sport. Peden Bloodstock became title partner of the FEI Best Athlete

Award in 2019.

A convoy of 11 state-of-the-art air-conditioned horse trucks, owned by the

Japanese Racing Association, transported today's precious equine cargo – and

13,500 kilograms of equipment – on the final transfer from Haneda to Baji Koen

where the equine superstars had the chance to settle into their Olympic Athlete

Village, aka the stables.

"Like all the athletes arriving into Tokyo for the Olympic and Paralympic

Games, the horses are honed and ready to compete on the sporting world's

biggest stage", FEI President Ingmar De Vos said. "After all the challenges the

world has faced, finally we're almost there and now it's only a matter of days

before we hear those magical words, let the Games begin!"

Fast flight facts:

- 18 hours 15 minutes – flight time Liege to Tokyo, with a touchdown in Dubai

- Aircraft detail: Emirates SkyCargo Boeing 777-F (flight numbers EK9388

LGG-DXB, EK9442 DXB-HND)

- 19 flying stables on-board

- Dimensions of the flying stables: 317cms long, 244cms wide, 233cms high

- 14-17° Celsius – on-board temperature

- 36 Dressage horses – teams from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Great

Britain, Netherlands, Portugal and host nation Japan, and individual horses

from Brazil, Estonia, Finland, Ireland and Morocco.

- 22,700kgs +/- total weight of horses flying from Liege  

- 630kg is the average weight of a Dressage horse

- 13,500kgs of horse equipment

- 12,000 kgs of feed (not including in-flight meals & snacks)

- 40 litres of water per horse

Total transport trivia across both Games

- 247 - total number of horses travelling to Tokyo for the Olympic Games

- 78 – total number of horses travelling to Tokyo for the Paralympic Games

- 630kg – average weight of a Dressage horse; 515kg – average weight of an

Eventing horse; 610kg – average weight of a Jumping horse

- 14 – total number of horse flights for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

- 5 – total number of horse flights for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games

- 100,000kgs - total weight of the horse equipment (including saddles, bridles,

boots, bandages, rugs, lunging equipment, headcollars, grooming kits, shoes &

studs, wheelbarrows & pitch forks)

- 60,000kgs – total feed weight (feed/haylage)

- 185 – total number of truck journeys between Haneda airport and the

equestrian park at Baji Koen

Haneda Airport (HND)

Haneda Airport handled over 87 million passengers in 2018, making it the third

busiest airport in Asia and the fourth busiest in the world, after Atlanta,

Beijing and Dubai. Following expansion in 2018, Haneda is able to handle 90

million passengers per year – not counting horses!

With Haneda and Narita combined, Tokyo has the third-busiest city airport

system in the world, after London and New York City.

Equestrian sport in Tokyo 2020

A record number of countries – 50 – will be competing in the equestrian events

at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games following the introduction of new formats that

limit teams to three members, meaning that more countries will have the

opportunity to compete on the Olympic stage than ever before.

A total of seven countries will be fielding full teams in all three Olympic

disciplines, including the host nation Japan. The others are Australia, France,

Germany, Great Britain, Sweden and United States of America.

Click here for more information on Equestrian at the Olympic Games.

Video content

Rights-Holding Broadcasters: VNR and b-roll footage of the departure from

Liege, the arrival in Tokyo and in the EQP venue are available for download on

Content+

Non-RHBs/digital media: VNR and b-roll footage (subject to the IOC's News

Access Rules) will be available for download here

[https://fei.broadcast-content.tv/login.php] at 16:00 JST.

Images

Images from the departure from Liege, the arrival in Tokyo and in the EQP venue

are available now on the FEI Flickr

[https://www.flickr.com/photos/gallery_fei/] account for editorial use only.

Media contact:

Shannon Gibbons

FEI Media Relations & Media Operations Manager

Shannon.gibbons@fei.org

+41 78 750 61 46

Photo:

https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1574778/Tokyo_Olympic_Equestrian_competitions.jpg

Logo:  https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1573262/FEI_Logo.jpg

Source: FEI