South African equestrian Victoria Scott-Legendre almost did not make it to the Tokyo Olympics, not because of a lack of talent, but money ¡ª the elephant in a room full of horses at the Games¡¯ most expensive sport.
The Olympic organizers pay to fly in the hundreds of horses competing in the Games, but it¡¯s up to the athletes to cough up the money for grooms, animal feed, airport accommodation and veterinarians for the horses.
¡°Our sports federation and our equestrian federation can¡¯t afford to give too much to the sport like some of the other federations do, so of course it¡¯s a huge expense for us personally to get here,¡± the 32-year-old said.
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