In the past few days in Rio, small chinks appeared in the German eventing team with some unexpected mistakes from three of the team on cross country day. Despite this they bounced back today to win team silver but Michael Jung went one better, adding the individual gold medal to his neckware.
Riding a reserve horse would normally put a rider at a disadvantage but not many riders have a reserve horse like Sam FBW. Michael’s partner in winning gold in London overcame his dislike of the big atmosphere arenas and noise to produce the goods for his rider, who works hard to give him confidence on these occasions
Fifth after the dressage they added nothing during the cross country and both show jumping rounds to once prove that they are the best in the world. It is a big ask for the top 25 riders to come back and jump two rounds in this unusual format, especially if they have had a disappointing round earlier but came back they did and some went even better the second time around
Mark Todd was philosophical about jumping a clear round after his penalties on Leonidas II in the first round possibly cost New Zealand a medal
“If only he’s done that in the first round!” he said “I think it was the mere fact that he had already been in here this morning and so he jumped the way he normally jumps. He was so full of himself this morning and we can just live to rue what might have been”
Astier Nicolas and Piaf De B'Neville
Mark moved from 11th place into seventh while his fellow New Zealander Clarke Johnstone, hoping to repeat his previous clear in the morning, was disappointed to have two rails down on Balmoral Sensation and finish in sixth place when another clear round would have given him a podium finish
Chris Burton and Santano II also dropped two rails – agonisingly, the very last two – to move from third to fifth but Sam Griffiths moved up with Paulank Brockagh once again producing a clear round and a huge round of applause from the crowd. Sam finished the best of the Australians in fourth place and it was an ex-Australian gold medallist who moved into bronze medal position.
He's had Olympic medals before but this is his first one for the USA and his first individual
Phillip Dutton riding Mighty Nice had one rail down but it was enough to secure him the individual bronze, his first individual Olympic medal. Astier Nicolas on Piaf De B’Neville couldn’t quite replicate his first clear round but one rail and two time penalties kept him in the silver medal winning place and Michael’s clear round, one of only seven in the afternoon session, secured another major Championship title for the man who is now looking to Tokyo and next year’s European Championships
Much more to come in articles and galleries over the next few days so stay tuned ....
Michael Jung and Sam FBW
