The last of the nations to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games through the World Equestrian Games were defined on Thursday (4 September). After more than a week of competition, Germany, Australia, the USA, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Ireland and Sweden had all booked their places via the main equestrian event of the year, which is being staged in Normandy, France. In the Olympic section, three dressage teams, six eventing teams and five jumping teams confirmed their places in Rio, while three teams won places at the Paralympic Games - confirmation was published on International Federation website (FEI).

The dressage competition saw the first four nations qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games last week: Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Australia. On Thursday, it was the turn of the jumping teams, the Netherlands, France, USA and Germany taking the first four spots. Sweden finished sixth, but also qualified as fifth-placed Brazil already had their place guaranteed as the host nation.

“After our first two riders had made mistakes my heart went a little up and down,” said Rob Ehrens chef d'equipe of the Dutch jumping team. “But the boys were all fighting together and when you have a good spirit you can achieve a lot.”

In eventing, the top six booked their trips to Brazil: Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, France, Australia and Ireland. Germany’s Sandra Auffarth, who also won the individual competition, praised the performance of her horse, Opgun Louvo. “I never dreamed that we could be double world champions,” she said. “This is amazing and unbelieveable. When I first rode Opgun Louvo I didn’t think he was a future champion, but we have taken every level step by step and he’s been fantastic this weekend, really working hard.”

UPDATE: The French eventing team was disqualifed by the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) on 23 April 2015 following a positive test for a controlled medication substance. The Canadian team, which had originally finished seventh, was awarded the Rio 2016 place. Click here for more details.

Ten-time Paralympic champion Lee Pearson was part of the British team in Normandy (Photo: FEI)

The World Equestrian Games also saw the first three nations book their spots at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, with Great Britain, the Netherlands and Germany taking gold, silver and bronze.

“We came here with the intention of securing a podium place in the team event to qualify for Rio,” said  Great Britain’s performance manager David Hunter. “We got the gold with a large percentage to spare, I couldn’t be prouder of them. The whole team and their back up have worked hard and everything has gone very smoothly. There has been a great spirit and I'm delighted.”

The remaining equestrian team places at Rio 2016 will be decided at continental qualifiers, while individual places will be decided according to world rankings.

Rio2016.com não é uma autoridade absoluta sobre as classificações para os Jogos Olímpicos e Paralímpicos, que são um processo em andamento. Vagas finais só serão confirmadas em julho de 2016 (para os Jogos Olímpicos) e agosto de 2016 (para os Jogos Paralímpicos). Os sistemas de classificação são definidos para cada esporte pela respectiva Federação Internacional e o Comitê Olímpico Internacional ou Comitê Paralímpico Internacional e estão sujeitos a mudanças. Quando um atleta ou equipe obtém uma vaga para seu país, a decisão final se ela será usada e quais atletas irão aos Jogos será tomada pelo respectivo Comitê Olímpico Nacional ou Comitê Paralímpico Nacional (CON ou CPN). Mesmo quando atletas alcançarem uma vaga nominal para eles mesmos, CONs/CPNs podem ter de decidir quem irão enviar aos Jogos caso o número de atletas classificados de um país exceda a cota máxima.