By sportswriter Wang Zijiang
LONDON, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Santiago Varela had never expected to become the show jumping course designer for the Olympic Games, although he started his career when he was only 15.
"I don't know how to explain how excited I am to be appointed as the course designer for the Tokyo Olympic Games," he said in an interview during the FEI World Cup Finals in Gothenburg. "I am really pleased. You know that happens [only] once in a lifetime."
"Never in my mind did I expect to have that honor. I realized that was true only after I have signed the contract one year ago," he said.
Varela, 45, started as a local course designer in Madrid in 1984 and was appointed as an international course designer in 1993. He has already demonstrated his ability to create world-class courses at top level events worldwide, such as the FEI European Senior Championships and FEI World Cup and Nations Cup Finals. He also got involved in the Rio Olympic Games as a technical delegate.
Since he signed the contract with the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (TOCOG) in March 2018, Varela has visited the venue in the Japanese capital several times.
"It is a super venue, " he said. "It is a traditional venue. When I was first there last June, I found that everything is designed perfectly. I believe the Tokyo Games will be a great success."
He also said that, due to the demanding nature of equestrian the course will not be ready until the day before the competition starts.
"You always have something to adjust," he said. "It's a hard job. We always finalize the courses for tomorrow's competition."
Varela may have designed hundreds of courses in his career, but he always thinks that the best one is the next.
"Every time you need to do better," he said. "You always try to learn and open your mind every day because this is the only sport in the world that brings two hearts and minds to do the same thing at the same time. Your target is to make the horses jump well instead of making a complicated course."
He added that a good course is one that "make horses look better horses in the world."
"Somebody thinks that organizers, officials, riders and owners are important. No. The only important thing is the horses," he said.
"Honestly never am I fully satisfied with my work," he said. "I always found that this could be better. You always want to be perfect. But you never get perfect. It is possible. "
As a result, he expects the Tokyo Olympic Games " to be a big challenge for us all with a lot of responsibility."
"But we are looking forward to it," he said.
