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Sir Lee Pearson cemented his place as the most decorated equestrian Paralympian of all time when winning three golds in Tokyo, taking his gold medal haul to 14.
Riding his homebred Breezer, Lee triumphed in the grade II individual and freestyle tests, as well as the team competition.
“Number 14 — not that we’re counting!” said Lee, 47, who has competed in all six Paralympic Games since Sydney 2000. “I’m twice over the moon. I actually didn’t care if I medalled. The horse gave me his heart out there.”
Having secured eight of the 33 medals on offer, Britain topped the para dressage table ahead of the Netherlands’ six medals and Belgium’s four.
Too close to call
Lee competed alongside teammates Natasha Baker and Sophie Wells in a nail-biting team competition, Team GB beating the Netherlands by just 0.656%. Bronze went to the USA.
All three British horses lacked championship experience — neither Natasha’s horse Keystone Dawn Chorus nor Sophie’s ride Don Cara M had even left the UK before.
“I don’t think any of us expected that in a million, trillion, gazillion years to be honest,” said Natasha, 31. “We’re all so immensely proud of everything our horses have done in the last few days.”
“We had no expectation that we could achieve that,” added 31-year-old Sophie. “We genuinely thought it was impossible in the most realistic way.”
Girl power
In addition to helping the team win gold, Natasha rode to two silver medals in the grade III individual and freestyle.
Sophie took silver in the grade V individual test but missed out on the medals in the freestyle with a fourth-place finish. The grade V freestyle title was successfully defended by Belgium’s Michèle George, who had topped the grade IV contest at both the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Games.
Team GB’S 25-year-old Paralympic debutante Georgia Wilson (Sakura) came away with two bronze medals, in the grade II individual and freestyle tests.
Freestyle record smashed
The grade I Paralympic freestyle record, set at the London Games by Britain’s Sophie Christiansen, was broken by Roxanne
Trunnell, the current Fei-ranked world number one in para dressage. The American rider smashed Sophie’s record of 84.750% with an incredible 86.927%.
“I just wanted a nice test. It felt good with the music the whole time,” said Roxanne after her win. “Everyone will be excited when we get home.”