Let’s just start with our eventing results. Team silver and individual bronze was a great result and didn’t our three riders, Shane Rose riding Virgil, Kevin McNab riding Don Quidam and Andrew Hoy riding Vassily de Lassos mix it with the best in the world and didn’t they more than hold their own.
Without question, the Australian eventing riders operate at the top level in their sport and are very good at the dressage, very, very good at the cross country and very, very, very good at the show jumping. On top of that, our horses were outstanding and the competitive toughness of our riders was remarkable. There was just so much pressure at the top end of the Tokyo competition and the team that blinked the least was the Australian team. Well, maybe the British team winning the team gold medal was pretty spectacular as well!
And Andrew Hoy! What can you say? He is 62 years of age and at his eighth Olympics and he wins an individual bronze medal. Did you realise that Andrew Hoy and Vassily de Lassos were the only combination at the Tokyo Olympics in eventing to finish on their dressage score, including the individual show jumping round, which was an add-on after the team show jumping round! Bloody unbelievable!
In the dressage phase, Australia’s team score ended up with 93.4 penalties. If the Australian team had produced a personal best score, they would have ended up with 81.3 penalties. Just keep in mind the team gold medallists, Great Britain, ended up after all phases with a score of 86.3. Shane Rose and Virgil in the dressage we had hoped would score 26.8 penalties, which is more or less his personal best. Shane scored 31.7 penalties so, 4.9 penalties off his personal best. Kevin McNab and Don Quidam we had hoped in the dressage would score 26.9 penalties representing his personal best, and he in actual fact scored 32.1, which was 5.2 penalties off his personal best. Andrew and Vassily de Lassos we had hoped in the dressage would score 27.6 penalties, however, they ended up with a score of 29.6, which was 2 penalties behind their personal best. So, Australia dropped 12.1 penalties off their personal best combined dressage score.
In the cross country phase, the Australian team incurred no cross country jump penalties and just 2.8 time penalties for the whole team. The gold medallists, Great Britain, had no cross country jump penalties and no cross country time penalties. The bronze medallists, France, had no cross country jump penalties but 2.0 cross country time penalties. This all sounds academic, however, we did beat France by 1.3 penalties for the silver medal. So, if one of our riders had gone four seconds slower on the cross country we would have slipped to a team bronze medal or, conversely, if the French rider, Christopher Six, was four seconds faster and so not incurring any time penalties, France would again have taken the team silver medal. Oh so close. My goodness, our Australian boys did us proud.
In the show jumping phase, Australia had just one rail down and no time penalties for the whole team in the team competition. Germany was the only country to do better, and they had no show jumping penalties. So, our Australian event riders are definitely amongst the best riders in the world in the show jumping phase.
OUR DRESSAGE CAMPAIGN
In a nutshell, our dressage results were very disappointing. There were 15 teams that started in the Grand Prix with eight of these teams going through to the Grand Prix Special where the team medals were decided. We were reasonably confident we would make the top eight and so be part of the team final. We didn’t; we came 13th. Simone Pearce riding Destano scored 68.494% and came 36th as an individual. Simone is without a doubt our Australian rising superstar and the whole Australian dressage sport moving forward is a real chance on the wonderful progress Simone has made. Her personal best is 76.261%, which was posted on 28 August 2020 in the Czech Republic at Brno CDI3*. This sort of score would have made such a difference at Tokyo. Mary Hanna riding Calanta scored 67.981% and came 40th as an individual. This was Mary’s sixth Olympics and she has been the cornerstone of Australian dressage for the last 30 years. Mary and Calanta had a personal best of 72.761% at Bawley Point (Willinga Park) CDI4* on 27 February, 2020. Again, this sort of score would have been magical at Tokyo. Kelly Layne riding Samhitas scored 58.354% and came 57th individually. Kelly and Samhitas have a personal best score of 71.935% at Wellington CDI3* on 25 February, 2021. Again, this score would have made a great contribution to Australia making the team ride-off in the Grand Prix Special at Tokyo.
All three girls performed way under their personal best and the scores they are capable of when managing themselves with the help of their own private support teams. Without question, the Australian High Performance contribution here did not impact in a manner that promoted personal best scores being equalled.
Personally, I think that the fact that all three Australian dressage riders underperformed, that to simply say they had a bad day at the office isn’t enough. Certainly, Mary Hanna is really tough, super experienced and has time and again performed for Australia under pressure. Moving forward, I would suggest there does need to be a detailed debrief and some very serious policy and management changes made.
These debriefs, whenever connected with Equestrian Australia, are always super secretive and never published in the public domain, and despite reassurances otherwise I can categorically say that these debriefs are always inadequate and done over a cup of tea. Never have I seen policy or programs evolved as a result of performance analysis at an Olympics or World Championships. At the conclusion of this column, I do touch on personal scores and the Australian High Performance team.
“My goodness, our Australian boys did us proud.”
“Simone is without a doubt our
Australian rising superstar.”
OUR SHOW JUMPING DISASTER
Our show jumping from the get-go was a super disaster starting with the selection. There are two Australian selectors, Stephen Lamb and the Chair of Selectors, Graham Watts. There are only two selectors. If one selector has a conflict of interest and momentarily steps down or goes outside whilst a selection is being discussed, the remaining single selector has no one to discuss it with. How can a selection panel be made up of two selectors only? This is a critical High Performance administration mistake.
Jamie Kermond was selected for the Australian show jumping team by the Australian selectors on Yandoo Oaks Constellation. Jamie Kermond listed Horsepower Feed and Supplements as a major sponsor on his Yandoo Park Equestrian business website. Stephen Lamb, who is one of the show jumping selectors, is listed as one of Horsepower’s sales staff and the territory manager for Sydney, South NSW and ACT. This is clearly a conflict of interest, however, Chris Webb, who is the Australian High Performance Director, assures everyone that this situation was handled in accordance with the Equestrian Australia conflict-of-interest policy. This conflict of interest had been acknowledged right from the start of the whole selection process.
Anyway, Jamie Kermond was drug tested by Sports Integrity Australia on 26 June, 2021. As I understand, the results for this drug testing became available possibly as late as 19 July and Jamie was about to fly out to Tokyo. So at the last minute, Jamie was told of his positive swab for cocaine and that he was not allowed to represent Australia at Tokyo 2020. This time lapse between testing and the results becoming available is unbelievable. In real life, a positive cocaine swab can be confirmed within hours of the initial testing. This time lapse needs investigating.
Anyway, this left the show jumping team with two riders only. Edwina Tops-Alexander riding Identity Vitseroel and Katie Laurie riding Casebrooke Lomond. Neither of these riders were, as far as I know, individually qualified, so theoretically they were not going to be allowed to ride even though they were at Tokyo with their horses and grooms and the Australian High Performance team. Thank goodness the two girls did get an exemption and were allowed to compete individually due to scratchings from other nations.
The named first reserve, Rowan Willis and his horse Blue Movie, withdrew on 9 July when Rowan felt that it was very unlikely that he would get a start at Tokyo. I personally really feel that perhaps Rowan let Australia down at this moment. Being a reserve at the Olympics or World Championships is a tough gig, however, it is a very important job that has to be stoically performed for your country. It’s actually a bugger of a job. Anyway, how important the reserve is was clearly illustrated when Jamie Kermond was taken out with a drug test. Had Rowan and Blue Movie been there, Australia would still have fielded a team and not risked the two girls going there and coming home without even having a start. Of note is the fact that Amy Graham, Scott Keach and Hilary Scott were all qualified and nominated for the Games, and appear on the FEI’s Definite Entries list; it would be interesting to know why they were not called up as replacement reserves.
In the big picture, however, again I believe that had the High Performance team spoken to Rowan and rationalised how important the position of reserve was, Rowan would probably have stuck it out. Rowan on Blue Movie and Scott Keach on Fedor are both based in the USA and are both top-ranked Australian show jumpers with a proven record of competing at 1.65-metre tracks. Jumping Olympic tracks, which are indeed 1.65m, is another league of show jumping. Most horses and most riders cannot perform at this level. Jumping at 1.50m is a really big deal in the show jumping world. It is, however, not 1.65m. Rowan Willis and Scott Keach, and Jamie Kermond and Edwina Tops-Alexander, are probably the only four Australian riders who, with their horses, have performed in recent times at 1.65m.
The two American-based boys both thought that they were automatically going to be on the Australian Tokyo 2020 Olympic team. Communication between the Australian selectors and the Australian High Performance team is strained and sometimes completely non-existent. I am not making comment on the Australian team selected for Tokyo 2020, however, I am making comment that communication between the riders and the High Performance management team in some cases was lacking.
I am also making comment that if the selectors feel that the best team for Australia includes a rider or riders who have a record of partying or using drugs, whether it is for themselves or for their horses, then they need to manage the selected riders. I am very aware that these riders throw everything they have at being as good as they can be in this sport of show jumping and being an Australian role model is not something that they necessarily sign up for. That is a High Performance management issue. Once these riders are selected, their role as an Australian ambassador and role model has to become part of the deal in the lead up to the Olympics, during the Olympics and being gracious immediately after the Olympics. Australian High Performance problem here!
In the Jumping Individual Qualifier, Edwina Tops-Alexander and her horse Identity Vitseroel looked great but had one rail down, which means they did not qualify for the Jumping Individual Final. So that was that for Edwina as she was no longer a part of a team to go forward into the subsequent team competition. Katie Laurie and Casebrooke Lomond had a nightmare of a round in the Individual Qualifier and retired. So for Katie Laurie that was also the end of her Tokyo campaign.
For Australia this is not a great chapter in our show jumping history. It is such a shame after the Australian team in 2018 against all of the odds performed outstandingly at the World Equestrian Games. This courageous performance qualified Australia for the first time for the Olympics at a big championship show. Normally we have to do it through being a representative from our Oceania region. A loophole into the Olympics for the lesser nations. Bugger! Just when we looked like we were starting to flex some show jumping muscle.
“Australian High Performance problem here!”
In conclusion, I think personal best scores are very, very significant in terms of our way forward. The Australian event riders left to their own devices are indeed producing personal best scores that would leave Australia as the gold medal team. We need to find a way forward that the High Performance support team at the Olympics and World Championships is proactive in encouraging the riders to achieve the absolute pinnacles of their potentials. Keep in mind these potentials in terms of high scores have already been posted in the riders’ efforts for team selection. The High Performance support team must equal or surpass the results a rider can achieve when supported by their own competition support team. These are the results that we need when these riders are competing on the Australian team. It is these personal best scores that the whole team is selected on. I think at the moment our event riders are just so, so good and that, in our endeavours to push that little bit further to achieve gold medals, we are probably going to have to brainstorm unexpected corners.
Improving the support that our riders get from the High Performance support crew at the Olympics and World Championships is, I think, a logical corner of thought to consider. The High Performance support crew are to be a team of specialists that promote the likelihood of the Australian event riders producing scores that are equivalent to their personal bests or results that are above personal bests. Logically, we would do very well if the riders were to produce new personal best scores. Personal best scores are, I think, a very serious reference point in evaluating whether a team is performing at its potential. If the team is performing at its potential, i.e., equalling personal best scores, then we should have great results at the Olympics and World Championships. If a team is indeed performing at its potential, and our results are non-competitive or disappointing at Olympics or World Championships, then the problem exists at home and the standard from which the team is selected from is not high enough.
Riders who are performing close to personal bests but not at a high enough standard need programs and policies put in place in the years leading up to the Olympics and World Championships. These programs and policies will allow the riders to raise their competition standards and so have the potential to return better results. So, two very different High Performance considerations. One – in situations like our Tokyo 2020 event riders, the riders’ standard is clearly good enough to win gold medals. If the High Performance support for our riders was even better, equivalent to what the riders are used to when competing as individuals at home, this would get us across the line to a gold medal. Two – if riders are achieving their personal bests and the results are not on the podium, then the Australian High Performance needs to implement policies and programs at home to raise the existing national standard from which the teams are selected.
Cheers
Heath EQ
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE TO READ:
And Along Came Virgil – (Equestrian Life, August 2021)
Aussie Eventers’ Silver Streak – (Equestrian Life, August 2021)
