The 2004 Athlete Summit will be held at 4 PM in the VIP Tent at the Showpark Ranch and Coast Horse Show, Del Mar, California, on Wednesday, May 12, 2004.

The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the 2005/08 Show Jumping High Performance Plan (HPP), which the U. S. Equestrian Federation must submit to the U.S. Olympic Committee by the end of this summer. This is the athletes’ opportunity to have meaningful input into discussions on this topic.

The HPP is a strategic plan for winning medals at the 2008 Olympic Games, including the years leading up to Beijing. Some of the areas the USOC would like to encourage NGB’s to explore and implement are coaching development, research/development of training and equipment, training center needs, etc.

Another topic of discussion will be the North American participation in the International Jumping Riders Club, which is open to the top 100 riders on the FEI Gandini Ranking List. The IJRC has become increasingly influential in the sport and would like more involvement from riders outside of Europe. Visit their website www.rcinternational.org , which has a wealth of information and data.