Showjumping
How the French dominated
Britain’s pairs impress, but it’s too late for medals, while France climbs to gold
as New Zealand drop catastrophically out of the reckoning
THE clock proved a major influence in the team showjumping and a third of the starters had timefaults, while the pressure of the ticking second hand forced others into mistakes.
“When the time is difficult, it makes you ride differently to how you’d like to,” said Jonelle Price.
Sam Griffiths added: “When you’ve got to go fast the horses get a bit flat, they don’t jump as high and you risk having a rail.”
Gemma Tattersall had a great clear over Guilherme Jorge’s track with Quicklook V, but with four time-penalties.
“I only had a chance to see one person jump and the feedback was that the time wasn’t that quick,” she said. “I thought I went pretty quick everywhere but obviously not. But she jumped beautifully.”
The rest of the Brits all put in secure fault-free rounds.
“He felt as good as at a one-day event and that gives you confidence,” said Kitty. “I knew he’d jump clear if I didn’t mess up on board.”
This was the best final day performance from any nation apart from Germany, who also had clears from all their remaining riders, and Team GB pulled up from eighth to fifth.
To the wire
THE team result came down to the last rider rotation, before which France, New Zealand or Australia could still have won gold. But they all also had to defend their right to any medal because Germany’s perfection meant they had come back into the reckoning from fourth after cross-country.
For France, Thibaut Vallette produced a clear on Qing Du Briot but Mathieu Lemoine had the last two rails down on Bart L.
A clear from final rider Astier Nicolas and Piaf De B’Neville would guarantee a team medal and they delivered, with a flyer
over the blue and white triple bar at five.
For New Zealand Jonelle Price had two down on Faerie Dianimo, but Clarke Johnstone and Balmoral Sensation added nothing to the total.
“He touched a few, which he wouldn’t normally do, but it’s probably fair to say I was preparing the reins more than I do normally,” he said.
Mark Todd could secure Kiwi gold if he jumped clear or had one down. But what followed was one of the biggest disasters in the history of team showjumping as Leonidas II seemed to lose his jump completely and had four down.
“I knew just before I went down that the horse was getting agitated,” said Mark. “He went rigid in his back and stopped jumping, which has never happened before. It was down to me to deliver and it didn’t happen.”
This pushed the Kiwis off the podium and allowed Germany to catapult up into silver.
Although Sam Griffiths put in a strong clear with Paulank Brockagh, the Aussies’ problems had started when Stuart Tinney had 17 faults on Pluto Mio.
“I wish I’d ridden the first half of the round like I rode the second half — I wasn’t waiting enough in the first half,” he said. “He just needed to stay focused on the fences more.”
However, a clear from Chris Burton would have given the Australians gold, and four faults would have equalled silver. But in a scrappy round Santano II was caught out at the second element of both the treble at eight and the double at 11b. This dropped the Australians to bronze, leaving France as the winners and Germany in silver.
“He’s a young, green horse and he showed his greenness today,” said Chris, who put a brave face on, knowing he had also lost individual gold. “He’s far outreached our expectations when we brought him here. Leading the Olympic Games is not something I’ll forget in a hurry.”