"IF you’ve got to the Olympics, you’re probably in the category of people that rise to the occasion,” says dressage team gold medallist Laura Tomlinson MBE. That mark of greatness she refers to could apply to everyone involved in the Olympic experience, even the setting itself.
But first things first: getting the horses on site. Martin Atock runs Peden Bloodstock, the company that has literally been rising to the challenge, flying Olympic (and later Paralympic) horses since the Rome Games of 1960.
“You can plan,” he comments, “but only when the logistics work; it’s one of the fundamentals.”
Prior to the Tokyo Games in 2021 (delayed a year due to the pandemic), Martin touched down in Japan on 16 different occasions, to attend meetings of up to 100 different stakeholders. He was responsible for “all aspects of health, logistics, quarantine, stable management and transport”, and only excellence would do.
He remembers 21 flights arriving for the Games, and “every single aircraft landed at 02.00 on the dot”. He would arrive at Baji Koen Equestrian Park every morning at 4.50am
