The Australian Olympic eventing team was formally announced on July 3rd and Andrew Hoy (Rutherglen), Shane Rose (Taurus), Clayton Fredericks (Bendigo), Lucinda Fredericks (Flying Finish) and Chris Burton (Holstein Park Leilani) were in .... but there was still plenty of drama to come.
Chris may have made the team but he had other goals in sight first and he kicked one on Germany’s home turf – the hallowed ground of Aachen, by winning the individual title at Aachen in the DHL Prize CICO3*on Underdiscussion. Germany took the Nations Cup teams title ahead of Great Britain and Sweden, with New Zealand in fourth place which proved interesting when looking later at results in London
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In Poland eighteen-year-old Sophie How riding Pebbly Aga Khan took first place in the European Eventing Championships for Juniors helping the British team to gain the gold medal. Ireland took team silver and France bronze while Emily King, daughter of Mary, took the individual silver and Ireland’s Harold Megahey won the individual bronze (above)
The Festival of British Eventing at Gatcombe was cancelled due to the rain, prompting more thoughts of weather problems for the Olympics but London turned on some fabulous weather, even though there were some torrential downpours, notably during Tina Cook’s dressage test (above) which also caused some angst for Andrew Nicholson
We followed the team from their camp in Gloucestershire through to settling in to Greenwich Park. Shane was in, then out. Megan was in, then out. Sam Griffiths then made up the final team member. And so it began with a fabulous start for Australia in the dressage with the team in second place overall and surprisingly a Japanese rider in the lead!
The cross country day dawned full of promise as Chris Burton (above) riding a really well-judged round with good, consistent speed to finish on his dressage score. By the end of cross country day however it became apparent how tricky the course was, despite Chris making it look easy, and Australian hopes were dashed when poor Sam Griffiths and Clayton Fredericks hit the deck and Lucinda picking up 20 penalties. Germany, Great Britain, Sweden, New Zealand, USA were now the teams in front.
Individual medallists; Michael Jung (gold), Sara Algotsson Ostholt (silver) and Sandra Auffarth (bronze) Photo: Kit Houghton/FEI
On the final day it was Team Germany that repeated their 2008 Olympic medal-winning performance, claiming Eventing team and individual gold. Such was their supremacy that they clinched the team title even before their last rider went into the ring, and Michael Jung set a new record in equestrian sport, becoming the first-ever event rider to hold Olympic, European and World titles at the same time.
CLICK HERE to see our full coverage from the London 2012 Olympic Games Eventing
To relive photo memories from all events in 2012 CLICK HERE
Coming up in August ; we stay in London for the dressage and showjumping before heading to Le Pin,Normandy in France (and meeting Michael Jung in person), checking out the WEG 2014 venues and AELEC in Tamworth hosts an exciting new event
