What a fantastic Olympic Games the 2024 Paris Olympics delivered! Australians stood up against the very best in the world and we can hold our heads high.

DRESSAGE

Individual gold medal – The German combination of TSF Dalera BB and Jessica von Bredow-Werndl won the individual gold medal for the second Olympics in a row. They were also the individual gold medallists at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The Freestyle test delivered by Jessica and TSF Dalera BB to win the individual title scored 90.093%, which was the only score to go through 90% at the whole Olympics. The test was astounding. It was very light, it had dramatic activity in the piaffe and the passage; this all happened with a willingness on the lightest of aids, the dance choreography or floor plan was so difficult and not once was there even the hint of a mistake. The music was a salute to France and the Olympics, and it danced around the horse and rider and the wonderful partnership that produced probably the best performance that I have ever seen in a freestyle. It was an honour to be a spectator.

“The performance was
amazing of course and
fascinating viewing…” 

Individual silver medal – The German combination of Wendy and Isabell Werth won the individual silver. The performance was amazing of course and fascinating viewing. Isabell has only been partnered with Wendy for the last seven months and every time this combination comes out the scores get better and better and better. Isabell and Wendy opened up in the Grand Prix at these Paris Olympics with a score of 79.363%. Truly amazing! The second test was the Grand Prix Special and, true to form, Isabell and Wendy went better again and scored 79.894%. Then came the Freestyle and Isabell and Wendy scored a massive 89.614%. Holy smoke! That is not slightly better again, but iconic. What will happen when this partnership has been together for another six months? Quite possibly we are looking at a new partnership that is going to rewrite dressage world history.

To be frank, Isabell Werth has already rewritten world dressage history. Isabell has seven team Olympic gold medals to her credit. She has six individual Olympic silver medals to her credit, and she has one individual Olympic gold medal to her credit. That is 14 Olympic medals that Isabell Werth has already won. That is insane! Most people at some stage get exhausted and struggle for inspiration. They plateau… they get old! Well blow that, beyond every possibility in the world, I think it is possible that Wendy is maybe going to be the best horse that Isabell Werth has ever had, and quite possibly this is just the tip of the iceberg happening right now of something that has to be seen to be believed. I can just feel the momentum coming. This is going to be more powerful, more beautiful, more knowledgeable than anything the dressage world has ever seen. Isabell and Wendy are a perfect storm and building more momentum than we have ever seen in the dressage world before. The whole Isabell and Wendy thing is amazing.

Individual bronze medal – The British combination of Glamourdale and Lottie Fry won the individual bronze. Lottie and Glamourdale are currently the reigning World Champions, and they brought a display of huge expression as the big black stallion Glamourdale exploded across the dressage arena. Lottie is tiny and so slight and just found complete harmony with the power and the gymnastics of a black stallion on fire and it was a sight to behold. The performance was light, harmonious and daring. The crowd went totally crazy at the end of the performance and the big black stallion stalked out of the arena with head held high on loose reins whilst Lottie waved and waved to the crowd with both hands. To say it was impressive is just one mighty understatement. It was majestic and beautiful. This performance scored 88.971%.

DRESSAGE TEAM MEDALS

The team gold medal went to Germany, made up of:
· Frederic Wandres and Bluetooth OLD – 75.942%
· Isabell Werth and Wendy – 79.894%
· Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and TSF Dalera BB – 79.954%

Traditionally Germany is recognised as the anchorman for dressage at the highest levels the world over. Germany traditionally wins the team gold. However, in the last two decades the German supremacy has been challenged and in Paris it is really a fascinating competition. For the Paris 2024 Olympics, Germany prevailed with a team total of 235.790, which is determined by the three percentages being added together. So that put them just 0.121% in front of the team silver medallists and 3.298% in front of the team bronze medallists. That has to be the closest team competition ever in Olympic dressage history. It was epic. Germany was fantastic and they had to be!!

The team silver medal went to Denmark, made up of:
· Daniel Bachmann Anderson and Vayron – 75.973%
· Nanna Skodborg Merrald and Zepter – 78.480%
· Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour and Freestyle – 81.216%

The team competition is the Grand Prix Special. Catherine Laudrup-Dufour and Freestyle won this class as an individual for their team. My goodness, the Danish got so close to winning the whole team competition. As I mentioned above, the Danish failed to win the team competition by 0.121%. Do you realise how close that is? If one of the Danish riders had scored one mark more for just one movement, the Danish score would have improved by 0.212%. So each Grand Prix Special test has 36 movements and one General Impression mark, and if just one of the Danish riders had scored just one mark more in one of those 37 opportunities, Denmark would have won the gold. Ye gods! That is the impossible tiniest margin. Oh my goodness.

“The Danish failed to win the
team competition by 0.121%.”

The team bronze medal went to Great Britain, made up of:
· Becky Moody and Jagerbomb – 76.489%
· Carl Hester and Fame – 76.520%
· Lottie Fry and Glamourdale – 79.483%

This gave the British team a final score of 232.492. This is 3.298% behind the gold medallists, Germany. That is just so close. Britain has been the team gold medallist in 2012 at the London Olympics, team silver at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and team bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Before these recent Olympics however, Britain was so, so far away from performing well in the dressage discipline. Prior to this newfound dressage prowess, the British were outstanding following the hounds fox hunting and sipping from their very alcoholic hip flasks! They have absolutely done the most amazing national turnaround in modern times. On this occasion Britain will just have to be content with a team bronze medal.

Having said that, Britain has gone 100% mad in all of the Olympic disciplines. In eventing, the British team won a team gold medal – even though they were awarded 15 extra penalties for a missed flag situation, which is very, very, very dubious. If you are interested, you can see this missed flag situation on Equestrian Life here. Bad decision, but the Brits did live with it with a stiff upper lip, and they still won! The British jumping team was also stupendous and won the team gold medal. The British high performance program is on fire! Anyway, the British dressage team did good!

AUSTRALIA

It is a pretty interesting story. Make no mistake, results-wise we still have a way to go to match the medal-winning nations, but the Australian riders did go down fighting hard. Australia was expected to end up 13th after the Grand Prix… so not even qualify for the Grand Prix Special. To qualify for the Grand Prix Special, a country had to come in the top 10 in the Grand Prix test. The Grand Prix Special was the competition that then decided the team medals. If we had come 13th as a team in the Grand Prix, our riders would only have done one test, the Grand Prix, and then packed up and gone home. Well, Australia qualified 10th in the Grand Prix, much to everyone’s surprise and voila! We were in and qualified for the Grand Prix Special and running amongst the top nations vying for team medals. That was a great job done by our riders. Here are their Grand Prix scores, which meant we were punching well above our weight. Why not?

·       Jayden Brown and Quincy B – 68.991%

·       William Matthew and Mysterious Star – 69.953%

·       Simone Pearce and Destano – 70.171%

These scores advanced us to the Grand Prix Special where the top 10 nations went head-to-head to decide the team medals. So, in we went for the Grand Prix Special and here are the Australian scores for that second test.

Jayden Brown and Quincy B – 70.152%. So Jayden stepped up a gear and had us all very excited.

William Matthew and Mysterious Star – 69.711%. William was very solid and didn’t really give ground, although he was unable to match his terrific personal best from the Grand Prix.

Simone Pearce and Destano – 67.340%. Simone announced prior to the Special that it would be 17-year-old Destano’s last ever test.

Unfortunately he just wasn’t quite where he was a couple of years ago here in Paris, but it is worth remembering that this combination holds three Australian Grand Prix records: The Australian Grand Prix record where they scored 76.261% in August 2020 in Brno, Czech Republic; the Australian Grand Prix Special record of 77.894%, posted in August 2020 in Brno, Czech Republic; and the Australian Grand Prix Freestyle record of 81.385%, achieved in June 2021 in Budapest, Hungary.

Thank you, Simone and thank you, Destano for so many great moments and Australian records in the dressage world. You have been a wonderful inspiration, and we do hope that Simone will find another partner to one day be her soul mate and take up where Destano has left off. Destano we will miss you.

And that was Dressage and that was Australia and that was the Paris 2024 Olympics.

EVENTING

Individual Gold Medal – The German combination of Michael Jung and Chipmunk FRH scored 21.8 penalties all up for the most brilliant of brilliant under-the-pressure Gold Medal wins. This was indeed the third individual gold medal that Michael Jung has won. Michael’s first individual gold in eventing was in 2012 at the London Olympics riding La Biosthetique Sam FBW. Michael won his second eventing individual gold in 2016 at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, again riding La Biosthetique Sam FBW – and now Michael Jung has just won his third Olympic individual eventing gold medal at Paris 2024 riding Chipmunk FRH.

Michael and Chipmunk FRH came second in the dressage phase with a score of 17.8 penalties. This would have been an Olympic record dressage score except the eventual bronze medallist, British girl Laura Collect on London 52, scored 17.5 penalties in the dressage phase! That means that the Olympic dressage record is 17.5 penalties and owned by Laura Collett and London 52.

Chipmunk FRH and Michael went clear cross country with no jumping penalties and no time penalties. He was one of only 10 outstanding combinations to produce this clear cross country result. Laura Collett and London 52 were just 2 seconds slow on the cross country and so accumulated 0.80 penalties. Nearly nothing, but Michael Jung and Chipmunk pounced and took the lead. Laura Collett now had a score of 18.3 penalties. Ouch! She was now in the silver medal position and Michael in the gold. Michael and Chipmunk FRH had one rail down in the team jumping competition. This meant Michael’s score drifted out to 21.8 penalties. Michael and Chipmunk FRH did, however, produce a magnificent clear round in the individual jumping competition, which followed the team jumping competition. Michael Jung and Chipmunk FRH finished up on a score of 21.8 penalties. Absolutely amazing. Laura Collett and London 52 were unable to capitalise on Michael Jung’s mistake in the team jumping and also had a rail down and again had two seconds over the time incurred for 4.8 penalties and a score of 23.10 penalties.

With both Laura and Michael having a rail down, the Australia rider, Chris Burton pounced on his wonderful horse Shadow Man. Chris had tied third in the dressage with the Chinese rider Alex Hua Tian on Jilsonne Van Bareelhof. Alex struggled with 20.6 penalties cross country and drifted off to an eventual 23rd placing. Not Chris, he hung on in there in the cross country with no time penalties and no jumping penalties. Chris moved into the bronze medal position and was completely focused on stalking Michael and Laura.

When Laura Collett had a rail down in the team jumping round, Chris and Shadow Man slid right on by and went into the silver medal position. Chris was now just 0.6 penalties behind Michael Jung going into the final individual jumping round. Without sounding mean, Chris needed Michael Jung to have another rail down and he needed himself and Shadow Man to go clear. Chris and Shadow Man did go clear. Michael Jung and Chipmunk FRH also went clear and convincingly. Damn! That was, for a moment or two, so close for Australia and a gold medal. But brilliantly done Michael Jung and Chipmunk FRH to win the individual gold medal. Good job.

So, the individual silver medal went to Australia and Chris Burton riding Shadow Man. What an inspired performance! Chris is the most beautiful rider and Shadow Man is the most beautiful horse with talent to burn in all three disciplines… dressage, cross country and show jumping. A complete package like this is very rare. Even more incredible is the fact that Chris Burton and Shadow Man had only been together as a partnership for the last six months. Almost the Isabell Werth story from dressage where this partnership has also achieved individual silver after just six months of being together.

The Individual Bronze Medal went to Britain’s Laura Collett and London 52. Laura started the three-day event posting a score of 17.5 penalties in the Dressage and creating a new Olympic record. I think once Laura had done that, she was at very short odds to be the Individual Gold medallist. Laura and London 52 represent the best of the best. Last year Laura and London 52 won Luhmühlen CCI5*L. In 2022, Laura and London 52 won the Badminton CCI5*L, and their performances go on and on and on with just the biggest and most prestigious events in the world. They finished Paris on a score of 23.10 penalties, which was just 0.7 penalties behind Chris Burton and Shadow Man and 1.3 penalties behind the Gold Medallist, Michael Jung and Chipmunk FRH.

Watching these top combinations go head-to-head was the most fascinating viewing. I think without a doubt it was a collection of the best Eventing riders ever at an Olympic Games.

EVENTING TEAM MEDALS

The team gold medal went to Great Britain, made up of:
· Rosalind Canter and Lordships Graffalo – 42.40 penalties
· Tom McEwen and JL Dublin – 25.8 penalties
· Laura Collett and London 52 – 23.1 penalties

Team total score: 91.3 penalties

This British team is possibly the best eventing team to ever take part in an Olympic Games in recent times. That may be an exaggeration, but a team of this calibre only appears occasionally and you would have to call it the dream team. As I mentioned in the dressage write-up, Rosalind Canter and Lordships Graffalo incurred 15 penalties for jumping outside the flags on fence 21D. Personally, I think the British team were incorrectly awarded 15 penalties. See for yourself and see what you think. The British did take this on the chin and kept a stiff upper lip and good on them. The British were still good enough to win the team gold and individual bronze. I can’t help but think that if that had been me, it would have been ugly and I would have embarrassed all of my friends having a throwdown!!

“Personally, I think the
British team were incorrectly
awarded 15 penalties.”

The team silver medal went to France, made up of:
· Nicolas Touzaint and Diablo Menthe – 38.40 penalties
· Karim Florent Laghouag and Triton Fontaine – 33.60 penalties
· Stephane Landois and Chaman Dumontceau – 31.60 penalties

Team total score: 103.60

Of course, the French winning silver on home soil made the crowds go absolutely crazy cheering on their countrymen. Basically the crowds were just erupting. Fantastic.

“Basically the crowds
were just erupting.”

The team bronze medal went to Japan, made up of:
· Toshiyuki Tanaka and Jefferson – 1.6 penalties (Replacement rider – Show Jumped only)
· Kazuma Tomoto and Vinci De La Vigne – 27.40 penalties
· Yoshiaki Oiwa and MGH Grafton Street – 25.90 penalties
· Ryuzo Kitajima and Cekatinka – 40.90 penalties (Withdrew after country – incurring replacement penalty of 20 penalties)

Team total Score: 115.80 (including replacement penalty of 20 penalties)

This Japanese bronze medal was a fantastic result. This is the first equestrian Olympic medal ever won by Japan. The Japanese riders were all class from go to woah. There were 16 teams jumping off in the show jumping and Japan was the only team to post three clear show jumping rounds. I don’t think this is the last we will hear of the Japanese team in Olympics and World Championships to come. Here come the Japanese!

So, what about the Australian eventing effort?

We did finish 15th out of 16 teams (accruing 200 penalties after Kevin McNab and Don Quidam’s retirement on cross country, and a further 20 penalties for the substitution of Olympic debutant Shenae Lowings and Bold Venture in the jumping phase). I think our Australian riders fought hard; Shane Rose was an inspiration coming back from injury to finish in the top 20. The amazing attack on the individual medals from Chris Burton sure kept all of us gasping and at the end of the day, very proud to be Australian. Chris Burton and his horse, Shadow Man ended up in the individual silver medal position just 0.6 penalties behind the gold medallist, Michael Jung and Chipmunk FRH. That is such a small margin and from a spectator’s point of view, it was wonderful viewing because Chris and Shadow Man were absolutely stalking the gold medal right from the start and kept moving in closer and closer. Unfortunately, the finish line came up a little too quickly and Michael Jung scrambled across first with Chris closing in. Anyway, the hunt for the individual eventing gold medal was exhilarating. This part of the Australian equation, was brilliant. I do think Chris Burton does represent a fabulous standard of riding which he has evolved during his time in England.

HIGH PERFORMANCE IMPACT

In my opinion, Chris Burton is not a reflection of the Australian High Performance policies and philosophies which are being promoted here in Australia. Please don’t go telling me how much better it is to be based in another country than it is in Australia. In 1992 Australia won Olympic team gold and individual gold. In 1996 Australia won Olympic team gold and in 2000 Australia won Olympic team gold and individual silver medals. Three Olympics in a row is no fluke and these riders were primarily Australian based riders. Also please understand that at the 1996 Olympics and the 2000 Olympics, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) were experimenting with how to run the team competition separately to the individual competition. Both of these experiments were discarded afterwards but cost Australia an individual gold medal in the 1996 Olympics and another individual gold medal in the 2000 Olympics. From 1992 until 2000, Australia ruled the world convincingly in three-day eventing. Clearly the prevailing policies and philosophies being promoted here in Australia, in those days were having a very positive impact on our eventing riders. Our riders in the Australian team in those days ranged from 18 years of age up into their mid-30s. We need to front this because Brisbane 2032 is just around the corner and explaining why we haven’t gone well there will indeed be boring and in my opinion, unnecessary. We need to front this now.

Make no mistake, the Australian combinations at the Paris Olympic Games did make us as a nation proud. They stepped up to the biggest sporting stage there is and more than held their own.

However from an administration perspective, I think when we are thinking about the future, we need to note that the Australian dressage team did well, but came 10th out of 16 teams. The Australian dressage team did come sixth in 2000 at the Sydney Olympics and did beat Great Britain.

I think when we are thinking about the future, we need to note that the Australian show jumping team again did well, but came 15th out of 20 teams.

At the Tokyo Olympics in 1964 John Faye on a 15.1hh horse called Bon Vale was fourth after having jumped off for the individual bronze medal. In years gone by certainly the Australian show jumping has been right up there with the best of the best.

I am really suspicious that the prevailing leadership and policies and philosophies being promoted by the High Performance programs and Equestrian Australia (EA) actually does reach right across all three disciplines and maybe even the Paralympics and impacts positively or negatively across all disciplines nationally. At the moment, the impact from our Australian leadership is negative on our Olympic and World Championship results. That is my opinion.

If we have a look at the British system at the moment, Britain won the gold medal for the team eventing competition in Paris. Britain won the gold medal for the team show jumping competition in Paris. Britain won the bronze medal in the team dressage competition in Paris. The British dressage team was minus perhaps their highest-scoring dressage combination in Charlotte Dujardin and Imhotep, which in theory would have made a huge difference to the result and in theory another British team gold medal, perhaps. Britain is on fire right across all three disciplines.

If we look at the German system at the moment. Germany won the gold medal in the individual competition for show jumping in Paris. Germany won the gold medal in the individual competition for eventing in Paris. Germany won the gold medal in the individual competition for dressage in Paris. The German High Performance program is impacting positively right across all three disciplines.

I think historically for the last two decades in Australia, the High Performance management has not been from an Equestrian background. In my opinion this has been a disaster and today what we did have going for us in the eventing world is pretty much in tatters. Also, the nurturing of our dressage and jumping disciplines in an improving cycle has not happened. Certainly not in a way that is reflected in Olympic or World Championships results.

I really think this is an Australian administration problem.

I am the greatest believer in the Australian riders and also the horses which we are producing today; our teams at the Games performed admirably.

I think there are answers and equations that would take Australia forward to being competitive at the gold medal end come Brisbane 2032. I think there has to be answers but they are not going to come from those who are driving the High Performance policies, philosophies and leadership at the moment. At the moment we have a deteriorating situation.

At the moment, I think EA riders and organisations will take a step forward if they recognise what I think are irrefutable facts and that being at the moment we are losing ground. I think the way forward would ideally be a restructure at EA and High Performance levels and the development of a very different approach. This is unlikely to happen. Realistically an Australian turnaround might end up being initiatives from individuals, or initiatives from a proactive club, or maybe a renegade state. I think the Australian Sports Commission is 100% not capable of factoring in the horse and how our sport needs are indeed unique from other Olympic sports. We need to take control of our own destiny. Alternatively, we can do nothing and we will see history repeat itself. We will continue to not return Australian Team Olympic or World Championship results.

Cheers,
Heath EQ