Hester confident of Tokyo 2020 selection

And while qualifying for the Olympics is always a monumental challenge for athletes from the Bailiwick, Sark legend Carl Hester welcomed yesterday’s special announcement marking just one year to the opening ceremony.

The two-time dressage team medallist already has one foot in Tokyo after starring in Great Britain’s medal-winning quartet at last year’s World Equestrian Games.

New rules mean that only three riders will constitute a team, but the 52-year-old – one day hoping to be oldest competitor at the Olympics – is currently the top Brit in the FEI rankings, ahead of even his world-renowned student Charlotte Dujardin.

‘They will want experienced team members,’ said Hester, before hinting that he fits the bill.

‘Tokyo will be my sixth one, but obviously I’ve got to be in the top three, and we qualified as a team last year, which was really good.

‘Charlotte and I, we had two new horses that were young and inexperienced, so it’s fantastic to qualify. That has taken the pressure off this year.’

Dressage team spots and individual qualifiers are likely to be announced next June.

Meanwhile, Hester is seeking extra silverware at next month’s European Championships.

Other Bailiwick competitors who harbour Olympic ambitions are Laser radial sailor Clem Thompson and both of athletics’ Chalmers brothers.

Notably, if either Alastair or Cam can meet the testing standards, they will compete in an environment where some of the Games’ electronic helpers will shift around retrieving throwing implements.

The medals are a product of a major recycling drive in which an estimated 90% of Japanese cities, towns and villages donated old gadgets – largely mobile phones.

Official sources estimate that 32kg of gold had been extracted from 6.2m. mobile phones and that 3.5 tonnes of silver and 2.2 tonnes of bronze had been recovered with the pebble-shaped prizes in mind.