A ‘deadly ride’ on HBO ‘Real Sports’
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The second segment of tonight’s HBO ‘Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel’ (10 p.m. EST/PST) deals with equestrian eventing, specifically, the cross-country portion in which horse and rider jump over fences.
When athlete and horse safely clear fences that often are designed to look like such whimsical things as houses and animals, the sport is, as ‘Real Sports’ correspondent Frank Deford describes it, ‘the most exhilarating Olympic sport that you’ve never even heard of.’
But when things go wrong, it turns into what ‘Real Sports’ calls a ‘deadly ride.’ The cable television program reports that the cross-country portion of equestrian eventing is under scrutiny because of a deadly string of accidents during the last two years that has left 15 riders and a dozen horses dead.
Tonight’s show isn’t for the faint of heart because it includes often-graphic footage of horses falling on top of riders.
The show includes an interview with top rider Darren Chiacchia, who tells Deford about a near-death experience after nearly being crushed to death when his horse toppled onto him during a failed jump. Deford also interviews the mother of two children who died in separate horse-jumping accidents.
U.S. Equestrian Federation President David O’Connor agrees that ‘it is a crisis’ because so many unexplained deaths have occurred in such a short period of time.
But O’Connor also tells Deford, that, in the end, it is the ‘rider’s responsibility’ to ensure that athlete and horse remain safe.
Equestrians and fans of the sport have created the Equestrian Aid Foundation to help riders who have been injured.
The nonprofit organization’s website currently is collecting funds for rider Laine Ashker, who was severely injured in a cross-country accident on April 26 in Lexington, Ky. The fund reports that her recovery will be ‘long and extensive.’
Other segments on ‘Real Sports’ include a look at the rough-and-tumble world of female gymnastics and the story of Lopez Lomong, who grew up in war-ravaged Sudan and now runs for the U.S. Olympic team. Diane Pucin blogged about the gymnastics segment at ‘Ticket to Beijing’ on Monday.
-- Greg Johnson