“No big deal, we just had the best two years in the history of eventing.”
Eventing is supposed to be a sport of ups and downs. Horses go lame at inopportune times, spook and tense up just before entering the dressage arena, or get tired in the show jumping. In our sport, lightning doesn’t strike twice, because it’s so darn hard to get lighting to strike once. It’s normal for a pair to have an occasional bad weekend, for a rider’s eye to be slightly off, or just to run into bad luck. But I assure you: There is nothing ‘normal’ about Michael Jung, who just won Olympic team and individual gold as the reigning team and individual European Champion and the reigning individual WEG champion. This is eventing history that I don’t expect to see repeated in my lifetime.
Almost all riders look, at least occasionally, as though they’re at the mercy of our sport–they’re flustered for a moment in the dressage, cross-country gets the better of them, or they miss in show jumping. But this weekend it seemed like eventing was at the mercy of Michael.
Olympic Final Results:
GOLD: Michael Jung and Sam (GER) +0 +0 40.6
SILVER: Sara Algotsson-Ostholt and Wega (SWE) +0 +4 43.3
BRONZE: Sandra Auffarth and Opgun Louvo (GER) +0 +0 44.8
4. Andrew Nicholson and Nereo (NZL) +0 +4 49.0
5. Mary King and Imperial Cavalier (GBR) +0 +8 50.1
6. Tina Cook and Miners Frolic (GBR) +1 +8 51.0
….
9. Karen O’Connor and Mr. Medicott (USA) +0 +0 53.8
22. Jessica Phoenix and Exponential (CAN) +14 +8 79.2
23. Phillip Dutton and Mystery Whisper (USA) +23 +11 81.1
[Individual Olympic Final Results]
And make no mistake, La Biosthetique Sam was every bit as impressive as Michael–perhaps even more so. Michael put Sam close to a couple of verticals, but there was never a chance he’d pull a rail. Sam jumped so high, so efficiently, so tightly with his knees, and turned so quickly that the course looked almost easy. Sam has performed at a level that most four-star horses never reach in their careers–and he’s done it for four years. A calculated plan of attack that started two years ago in Kentucky just unfolded perfectly in front of our eyes, and we all look foolish for ever doubting its inevitability.
And, if all of that wasn’t enough, it’s Michael’s 30th birthday today.
Michael and Sam were the only pair to finish on their dressage score and they moved up from 11th after the dressage to win. Their double-clear in the individual round put all of the pressure on first-placed Sara Algotsson-Ostholt and Wega of Sweden. Sara and Wega nearly lost gold when they gave a hard rub to the second to last fence. Then, two strides out from the last, Sara knew that she was going to get much too close. Sara’s scream for help from her partner rang out and Wega did everything she could, but the damage was done. They pulled the last fence to lose the Olympic gold medal. Sara and Wega won silver along with the hearts of the eventing world this weekend with a courageous performance that was one rail away from perfection. Sandra Auffarth of Germany took bronze with two fantastic double-clears today.
Andrew Nicholson and Nereo finished without a medal in dreaded fourth after pulling a rail–Andrew rode really well to limit the damage to just one. Great Britain’s individual medal hopes faded when both Mary King and Tina Cook pulled the first fence and the gate at number three. Mary worked so hard in the team jumping round to help Imperial Cavalier jump clear, but she couldn’t quite save the day in the individual round and dropped from third to fifth. I couldn’t write a post about the show jumping finale in Greenwich without mentioning Zara Phillips and she obliged, jumping a clear second round with her adoring fans and members of the Royal Family looking on. Six years ago Toytown helped Zara around the 2006 WEGs. This year Zara helped High Kingdom get the job done.
Mark Todd and Campino started the day in 3rd with hopes of Toddy’s 3rd Olympic individual gold at his 7th Games and they ended the day in 12th. Sadly it looked as though Campino’s incredible effort to nearly make the time despite slipping his way around the cross-country got the better of him today. Two show jumping rounds after a very demanding cross-country yesterday was a tall order for most of the horses.
The second and final show jumping round did seem to ride better than the individual round this morning. I would attribute this to a variety of factors including that only the top 25 horses jumped, there were fewer jumps, the path of the course was more flowing, and there was less team pressure on the riders. The second round did cause one stop for France’s Lionel Guyon and Nemetis De Lalou.
Team USA found some redemption in the final round. Karen continued her fantastic weekend by finishing the day on her cross-country score with two perfect double-clears. In her 5th Olympics, Karen (allegedly) ended her international career for the Team USA with leadership and poise, finishing in 9th. Karen’s husband David takes over the US coaching job now, and some changes that this weekend suggests Team USA needs are approaching quickly.
Phillip Dutton and Mystery Whisper stepped their game up after a stop in the first round. They pulled the white gate and added a few time penalties in their last ride together–the plan is for Phillip to hand the reins over to Whisper’s owner, Arden Wildasin. Phillip Tweeted after their round “Whisper tried really hard in the second round, big ask for him after such a big day yesterday.“
Jessica Phoenix and Exponential also found redemption in their first Olympics, pulling one rail and incurring a few time penalties. They finished the weekend in 22nd place, with the excitement that they have so much more upside.
Team GB rode marvelously all weekend. Their five riders drew energy from their home fans rather than feeling the extra pressure of competing on home turf. They would have had five riders riding in the final round, but nations were limited to running their top three. Ingrid Klimke of Germany withdrew after 9 faults in her first round and there was speculation that she did so either to spare her horse Butts Abbraxxas another round or to try and give her spot to teammate Dirk Schrade. Only Michael and Sandra jumped for Germany in the last round. (4:59pm Update: Apparently Ingrid was trying to substitute Dirk, but the rules did not allow it)
The first double-clear of the second round belonged to Joe Murphy of Ireland with Electric Cruise–their second double-clear of the day. Andrew Hoy followed them with a double-clear on Rutherglen in Andrew’s 7th Olympics. Ireland’s Aoife Clark and Master Crusoe became crowd favorites with two efficient double-clears, moving up from 32nd after the dressage to 7th.
I try to end every big competition by giving thanks to everyone who made it possible. Thank you to all of the volunteers and organizers in London who worked so hard for so many years to host our sport. Thanks to Horse & Hound for letting us partner with them on their XC live blog. I want to give a major thanks to the EN team for their incredible help this weekend. Nothing we did this weekend would have been possible without Vis, Kate, ESJ, Abby, Leslie, Samantha, Tori, Erin, Annie, and everyone else who joined our coverage–you all were fantastic to put up with my emails at 10pm and texts at 3am. Most of all, thank you for making Eventing Nation part of your Olympic experience–this is a weekend that none of us will soon forget.
In terms of historical significance, in my opinion there are only two achievements in the history of our sport that rival what Michael did today–Mark Todd’s two Olympic individual golds with Charisma and Pippa Funnel’s Grand Slam. This day, and the pair wearing two gold medals tonight, just became eventing history. Go Michael and Sam.
