Being part of an organised group is not every one’s cup of tea, but it should be noted that Ian Dennis’s team from Incentevents, did the group proud. They provided a hassle free service to an unknown land of dragons and serpents, in Wu Zi the year of the Rat. On long haul flights, over 41 members of the EHOA arrived at the Intercontinental Hotel, Kowloon, from far flung corners of world with great expectations and a little uncertainty as to what to expect from both our equine athletes and Chinese hosts. A hotel to die for, with breath taking views of the concrete metropolis across the bay which has been used as the back drop for many blockbusters “shaken not stirred” kept popping to mind. Marilyn and her partner Lionel were our tour guides who represented Incentevents with my good self acting as the subject matter “expert” providing a cross country course walk at Bees River and a daily summary of the events.
After almost 30 years of collecting The Queen’s shilling I still find early reveilles a complete bore, the mornings started as early as 4.30am and the evenings finished as late as 2am, how could a man fit a party in, do not fear we managed! The Chinese organised the event with military precision that any Field Marshal would have been proud of. All visitors were provided with a bus shuttle service into the event and a bus shuttle service out of the event. Rain macs, flag and mini binoculars provided on entry and a rent a crowd of marshals all paid to smile and cheer the spectators on arrival and departure. The queues moved slowly and orderly in and out of the stadium with minimum hassle; judging by the numbers of police on duty I think they had been briefed that the eventing lot were a wild bunch. In fact a few pro Tibetan protesters did cause a little ruckus on a couple of occasions, providing a little unwanted implosion to those doing their tests at the time. Having talked with the riders they felt there was nothing lacking at all with the facilities provided for both our four legged athletes and themselves, no stone had been unturned.
I don’t intend going into a blow by blow account of the all three phases of the competition, as the equine media will by now have dissected and super analysed the event in depth. Here is just a brief synopsis of the competition from a spectator’s point of view.
Dressage
After the dressage it seemed it was for the Australians to lose with an immaculate test ridden by Lucinda Fredericks which set the trend for our antipodean friends who had three scores in the thirties. Team GB had a few hiccups, whilst William had to ride an unusually tense ParkMore Ed who had taken longer than the other horses to acclimatise, therefore Ed could not be fully tuned up by William in the days prior to his test. Daisy kept the lid on Spring Along which had the potential to blow up while Mary, Sharon and Tina scored respectable marks. The judging overall seemed reasonably close with the judge at E seeing a different view of the movements to his colleagues which if nothing else gave us groupies something to talk about, how boring would it be if the dressage was not a subjective view from the judges. Team GB were lying in 4th spot 19 points behind the Aussie’s with the Germans and USA filling the gaps respectively. A number of horses shied at the TV camera placed between the judges at C and H, which then (the camera was covered with a hedge for the pure dressage) ‘set’ them off, caused some horses to shy at the arena markers and flower pots, while in the back ground the Olympic flame burned brightly on.
Dressage magical moments:
- Lucinda Fredericks and Headley Britannia scoring a 10 for a flying change
- The Chinese crowd cheering Alex Hua Tian and wanting to know when all the riders came back in and started too race one another
Dressage disasters:
- When a Russian team member’s horse decided it was going to do a kur and invented the movements as it went along to include airs above the ground, poor man.
- Nicolous Touzaint having to withdraw
Cross Country
The cross country course was a middle distance sprint and not a marathon. Built in the best part, at 3 star dimensions unfortunately some of the long routes I felt were not as influential as they could have been. Yes maybe it did suit the warmblood crosses more than the thoroughbreds, another 2 mins distance and a completely different story could have been written in this text. However that was not the case and I believe that if the course had been any longer there would have been too many ugly sights, you only had to look at the way in which the penultimate fence jumped to see how tired most of the horses were. Taking all the outlying factors into consideration I believe the course was the correct length, maybe it could have been a little bigger in places with the odd long route having more influence, however there does come a time to stop whinging and just get on with it, after all it was the same course for everybody. Forty five horses went clear, the time as predicated was very fast. After my EHOA course walk I surmised that if you had a comfortable round you were not going quick enough, in essence you had to be on the edge and on two wheels around every corner. I felt as a team we could have closed the gap during this phase but the Germans pulled another 4 points ahead of us. Meanwhile as Aussie’s media accused our other Olympic successes elsewhere in the Games of only being achieved in sports “where we only sit on are backs sides” I think it would only be fair to say that “sitting on their back sides” is exactly what the Aussie’s did as they watched their Gold medal hopes slip away, mean while back at Sha Tin the Olympic flame burned brightly on.
Cross Country magical moments:
- Williams determined and inspirational round
- Pure magic, Toddy’s inspirational round
- The look on the rather rotund Brazilian riders face as he crossed the finish line, I am sure he thought he was going to the Olympics to take part in the sumo wrestling and they threw him on a horse
Cross Country disasters:
- Amy Tryon’s 5.9, 5.6, 5.8 high dive at fence number ten. On a serious note we all wish Amy and Poggio well
- When poor Alex Hua Tian in front of a home crowd forgot the golden art of riding, keeping the horse between him and the ground.
Show Jumping
What a finale, how often does a hand full of poles divide teams in championships and the top twelve individuals were all within 2 poles of the gold medal, the scene was set for an electric show down . The Chinese crowd enjoyed the show jumping far more than the dressage. As a pole was knocked down a low pitched “aaaah” was heard around the arena and when a horse stopped “ooooh” was echoed around the arena. A nail biting finish saw a well deserved win by the Heinrich Romeike for Germany, a dentist who should inspire all us amateur riders, after jumping a clear round to take individual Olympic Gold to add to his team Gold. Tina was amazing, she kept her calm and produced one of only 6 double clears to add the individual bronze to the Team Bronze. As we were leaving the arena at the close of the medal ceremony I could not resist one last look over my shoulder to see the Olympic flame burning brightly on ready to welcome the Dressage and Show Jumping Teams.
Show Jumping magical moments:
- Mrs Cook jumping a double clear and taking the Bronze Medal
- Kenneth Clawson appearing in public in shorts and funny hat
- A delightful double clear by Gina Miles and the wonderful Mckinlaigh. Who was superb throughout, this horse would be my dream ride
Show Jumping disasters:
- The French Team not finishing with a full team score
- Samantha Albert’s very unfortunate elimination
Summary
In reflection it should be of some concern to Team GB that the Germans stretched their lead in both the cross country and the show jumping phases. Two Bronze Medals are very credible, but when eventing comes home in 2012 two Golds would be the icing on the cake. The Australians winning a Silver Medal is a huge achievement. However to lose Gold must be a heartbreaking soul searching experience; they must surely be questioning themselves on cross country day. Whilst the USA and French must be wondering which way to turn next, dreams and medals are expensive and mother luck did not choose to ride with them. Not many sports could offer such a diverse mixture of excitement, dedication, guts, speed, control, athleticism, emotion, reward and disappointment and for these reasons we LOVE IT
Next stop Fontainebleau, be sure to book your place with the EHOA and Incentevents.
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