Yesterday marked the end of the equestrian events at the Paris Olympics and, safe to say, the German team’s performance will have prompted an appropriate amount of beer drinking from our Deutsch friends.
King of eventing, Michael Jung, got the party started when he topped the podium for a third time last week, followed up by Queen of dressage, Jessica von Bredow-Werndl’s continuation of her epic winning streak when she defended her individual title from Tokyo. The German domination was rounded off by Christian Kukuk show jumping his way to Olympic glory, thus completing the triarchy of equestrianism and making history as he did so. Germany already held the record for being the only nation to have taken individual gold in all three disciplines at a Games, that came in 1936, and now they are the only country to achieve the feat twice.
Let’s raise our glasses with a ‘Prost!’ to Germany, and go eventing.
U.S. Weekend Preview
Fair Hill International Recognized H.T. (Elkton, MD) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Volunteer] [Scoring]
GMHA Festival of Eventing August H.T. (South Woodstock, VT) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Volunteer] [Scoring]
Masterson Equestrian Trust YEH/NEH Qualifier (Lexington, KY) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Scoring]
Otter Creek Summer H.T. (Wheeler, WI) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Volunteer] [Scoring]
WindRidge Farm Summer H.T. (Mooresboro, NC) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Volunteer] [Scoring]
Woodside Summer H.T (Woodside, CA) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Volunteer] [Scoring]
UK International Events
Hartpury International Incorporating the British Championships (Gloucestershire) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Scoring]
Wednesday News and Reading
I won’t have been the only one with a tear in my eye as Carl Hester finished up his Olympic Freestyle to ‘Those Were the Days, My Friend’. Carl was the youngest British rider at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 and went to Paris as the oldest, and had hinted in the run-up that this Games would be his last. When he put down a PB with Fame, and very nearly a career best for Carl, you couldn’t help but think that, should he decide this would in fact be an end to his Olympic career, it was a befitting way for the dressage superstar to call time. Carl Hester has been a part of my horsey life from the very start; I had his poster pinned to my wall (next to one of Pippa Funnell) when I was a pony mad kid who lived for my Saturday morning riding lesson. Even then, in the early days, it was clear that a whole host of equestrians looked to him as a horseman of the best kind, and there’s no doubt that we’ll continue to do so far, far, into the future.
The US saw silver success in the show jumping at Paris. Whilst there was disappointment for the US eventers who we all thought were in with a shot of a team medal, at least, but ended up finishing 7th in the team competition with Boyd Martin and Fedarman B the best of the Americans individually in 10th, there was an altogether different story in the show jumping camp where McLain Ward, Laura Kraut and and Kent Farrington took team silver with just one pole down between the three of them. Chef d’equipe Robert Ridland was obviously delighted with the team’s performance, but also with the sport itself, saying, “It was an amazing Games … just looking at those grandstands, there’s not an empty seat in the house. This is the sport at its best. It just doesn’t get any better”. Read more about the riders who’re bringing home the hardware for the States.
Horse stories from elsewhere at the Games: US gymnast (and team bronze medalist in Paris) Brody Malone may be well-known to sports fans for his high-flying high bar routines and strength and endurance when working the pommel horse, but his roots are with a different kind of horse (our kind of horse) – he grew up competing on the junior rodeo circuit in team roping. Gold medal winning rower, Britain’s Georgina Brayshaw is another athlete with horses in her past, having been a keen rider up until a life-changing accident when she was fifteen, leaving her with injuries which suggested she may never walk again. In an amazing feat of overcoming adversity, Georgina did in fact make a full recovery, taking up rowing at University and now becoming an Olympic champion.
In other Olympic news… Blink and you’ll miss it – the men’s 100m made history when all eight competitors finished in under 10 seconds – listen in to the phone call between the fastest human being on the planet, the USA’s Noah Lyle, and his dad after the race. From land to water and a world record in the pool when the US women won the 4x100m medley relay. Bathroom break alert: you’re in the middle of a 273km cycle race in the Olympics and you need to pee. Sticking with cycling for a second with a standing ovation for the last-place finisher showcasing the true spirit of the Games. Over on the court, Britain’s tennis ace Andy Murray officially retired in Paris; the following day he made up for all the donuts he’d missed out on over the years of being an athlete. And finally, I gift you the Mona Lisas, plural, at the Olympics, watching water polo, because, Paris, baby, Paris.
Video Break
We’ll wrap things up today with Snoop Dogg digging horses because, quite frankly, we’ll never get enough of this.
