Germany wins first Olymic gold medal in Hong Kong
With only 3.90 penalties separating Germany and Australia, the final showjumping phase of the three-day-event team competition provided a nail-biting conclusion resulting in team gold for the German squad.
Similarly, in the individual rankings, less than one rail separated the top seven riders, guaranteeing an exciting climax. In the final reckoning, however, 45-year-old dentist, Hinrich Romeike, an amateur rider and member of the German team, claimed a double victory despite some heart-stopping moments when his 14-year-old Holsteiner, Marius, clipped a few rails. Ironically, in Athens 2004, Hinrich placed fifth individually, while Germany finished fourth following a costly error on the showjumping course by Bettina Hoy that robbed the whole team of almost certain gold.
At the start of the showjumping phase, the top three places in the team competition were occupied by Germany, Australia and Great Britain and remained unchanged, although Sweden, lying sixth going in to the final round, overtook both New Zealand and Italy to claim fourth place thanks to clear rounds from Linda Algotsson and Katrin Norling.
For the individual medals, the top 25 riders returned to jump a different course, although two riders in strong positions had to be dropped due to the three-rider limit per nation. This affected Germany’s Frank Ostholt who was ranked 10th, and Australia’s Shane Rose, ranked 18th.
Following a number of four-fault rounds, Frenchman Didier Dhennin was the first to put pressure on the medal contenders with a faultless round riding Ismene du Temple, a 12-year-old Selle Français mare. In fact, Dhennin was so delighted with his performance that he tossed his riding crop into the air as he crossed the finish line and enjoyed a lap of honour – undoubtedly relieved that the French team’s extreme disappointments of the previous few days were finally over.
Ahead of him, Britain’s Kristina Cook also jumped an impeccable round with Miners Frolic to place first provisionally. Both Clayton Fredericks (Australia) and Andreas Dibowski (Germany) then obliged with four- and eight-faults rounds respectively riding Ben Along Time and Butts Leon, moving Cook closer to the medal podium with four riders to go.
Riding McKinlaigh, the Irish Sport Horse gelding who won the World Breeding Federation’s leading horse title for 2006/2007, Gina Miles for the United States maintained a cool head and slipped into the lead, putting pressure on the top three riders who all needed clear rounds. Sadly for Australia’s Megan Jones and Germany’s Ingrid Klimke, four-fault rounds dropped them out of the medals, leaving the door open for last to go, Hinrich Romeike. Marius, by the thoroughbred Condrieu, a stallion well-known for also producing showjumpers, rose to the challenge, and the pair crossed the line as individual three-day-event Olympic gold medal winners for 2008, ahead of Miles and Cook in silver and bronze, respectively.
A grinning Romeike said, “Actually I expected the team gold, but didn’t expect the individual gold … it just came.” Following the Athens disaster, he added; “The team gold is very precious after what happened in Athens – it means you’ve done well and can go party with your friends. Life is a roller-coaster, and you just have to go along for the ride.”
“My horse never makes mistakes – they are always my fault. This afternoon, in Germany, the dental surgery where I work has a huge flat-screen television and they were watching and drinking champagne while I drank water!”
“Being a dentist, I work all day, then around 6:00 or 6:30 I go to the stable and ride. I don’t know how I do it, I just do. It’s fun. Not like hard work at all.”
Cook acknowledged, “My horse went well in all three phases, and for a young horse I’m very proud of him.”
For Miles, “It was my goal to make the individual final. I was also hoping for a team medal, so was disappointed about that, but the whole team gave me their support.” Asked how she copied with the pressure of the final round, she said, “I jumped one jump at a time and focused on what I had to do. I knew the top 10 were close together, so didn’t let my mind wander.”
One unfortunate postscript to this competition was a statement issued by the FEI announcing the disqualification of former Australian international Phillip Dutton, who now competes as a U.S. citizen. A new showjumping welfare rule for the three-day event came into effect in February 2008 limiting the weight of horse boots to 500 grams. Eventing technical delegate in Hong Kong, Giuseppe Della Chiesa confirmed that the boots worn by Dutton’s horse exceeded this weight limit, which resulted in disqualification. It currently appears that they were only worn in the individual round in which Dutton finished 16th, although Della Chiesa added that further investigations would be conducted.
Full results can be found by linking directly to the equestrian pages on the Beijing 2008 website:
http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/Schedule/EQ.shtml
