With less than 3 months till the Olympics Games begin there is a great deal of jostling for a spot on the Australian team and as always there is the gossiping behind the shelter sheds about who should and shouldn't go!

So let's start with a look at the Australian history of Olympic Showjumping participation -
-1956 - Melbourne (equestrian held in Stockholm) - individual reprsentative - Bert Jacobs - didn't complete
-1964 - Tokyo - Team finished 9th with the highest individual placing of 4th to John Fahey with Bonvale
-1968 - Mexico - Team finished 9th with the highest individual placing of 18th to Kevin Bacon and Chicester
-1976 - Montreal - Team finished 9th with the highest individual placing of 5th to Guy Creighton and Mr Dennis with both Kevin Bacon and Barry Roycroft being eliminated.
-1980 - Moscow - team qualified but these Games were boycotted
-1984 - Los Angeles - Team finished 9th with the highest individual placing of 26th to Jeff McVean and King Omega
-1988 - Seoul - Team finishes 10th with the highest individual placing of 28th to George Sanna and Schnapes. - team in as other teams withdrew
-1996 - Atlanta - Team finishes 19th with the highest individual placing of 57th to Vicki Roycroft and Coalminer - team in as other teams withdrew
-2000 - Sydney - Team finishes 10th with the highest individual placing of =20th to Jeff Bloomfield and Money Talks - team allowed as Aus was host country.
-2004 - Athens - No team qualified - Individual representative - Tim Armitrano and Mr Innocent - withdrawn after 34 faults in first round and 48 faults in 2nd round. The Individual spot was gained by James Paterson-Robinson who was not chosen to represent Aus inspite of having achieved the place for his country.

Our two greatest results are quite obviously John Fahey jumping off for a medal in Tokyo in 1968 and Edwina Alexander jumping off for a medal at the World Equestrian Games in Aachen in 2006 - both finished in 4th place, which have been sensational results for Australia.

The outbreak of EI messed up the Olympic preparation for many riders, as all shows were cancelled with the country being in lock down for non-racing horses and around October 2007 the word was that there were to be no more opportunities for riders to achieve their MES (the former certificates of capability for Olympic standard competition) which meant many of our top combinations were not even going to be eligible for selection.

In light of the lack of competition in Australia in the lead up to Hong Kong, Laurie Lever and Ashleigh Drossel Dan and Paul Asthanasoff with Wirragulla Nicklaus headed to Europe to gain the necessary competition and also, for Laurie Lever to get their MES. They headed out late in 2007 to Europe to join Matt Williams and Edwina Alexander who are permanently based in Belgium and Holland respectively.

A few weeks prior to a world cup show in Sydney it was decided to hold an MES class which saw every player a winner which gave each combination the right to travel to Germany at their own cost for the final two selection events.

And now we come to the finale - two final selection events in Germany! The decision will be made, as we read, from the overall results from the two shows, with the two highest placed Australians being on the team, the third place is selectors choice and Edwina Alexander is preselected due to her exceptional performance at the World Games in Aachen and then continued excellent results against the "best in the world".

The first show begins Friday, May 30th in Pfzorheim, Germany and the start list sees the following riders lining up for starters orders:

AMITRANO, Tim - Mr Innocent
ATHANASOFF, Paul - Wirragulla Nicklaus
CHUGG, Chris - Vivant
LEVER, Laurie - Ashleigh Drossel Dan
MC MAHON, Peter - Kolora Stud Genoa
MELLERS, Adam - Animate
ROYCROFT, Vicki - Noblewood Park Blatini
WILLIAMS, Matthew - Asgard 17, 112 Leconte

www.jumpingaround.com are in Pforzheim to bring you the results as they happen complete with photos so check in daily.