Great Britain wins the Olympic team jumping, the Nations Cup, ahead of the USA and France.
02.08.2024, 16:22
02.08.2024, 16:41
SDA
Great Britain's Ben Maher on Dallas Vegas Batilly, Harry Charles on Romeo and Scott Brash on Jefferson only picked up two penalty points. The USA (4), France (7) and the Netherlands (7) ended up with less than two penalties. The Swiss show-jumpers had six faults in the qualifying round on Thursday.
Having to watch the high-class team final as spectators must have left the Swiss show-jumpers sore once again - especially as one of the qualified teams, Mexico, did not even make it to the final (What? Even Mexico beat us in qualifying?).
The fact that the highly decorated Swiss show jumpers were eliminated in qualifying on the national holiday will go down as one of the biggest negative Swiss surprises in the history of this sport. And that with three riders (Steve Guerdat, Pius Schwizer, Martin Fuchs) who have all been number 1 in the world.
What did the analysis reveal? Head of equestrian team Peter van der Waaij was still unable to explain the "debacle" the day after. And Evelyne Niklaus, the head of the riders' delegation, was also at a loss for an explanation, because "surely nobody expected this".
The show jumpers themselves resorted to slogans of perseverance with a view to the individual competition. They had not made any mistakes in their preparations. Ultimately, they simply had a bad day at the worst possible moment. They want to redeem themselves in the individual. Guerdat, Schwizer and Fuchs promise to make amends next week.
On Sunday, the four Swiss show jumpers will be allowed to train again in the gardens of the former residence of the French kings, in the grounds of the Palace of Versailles. After this training session, it will be decided which three riders will be allowed to compete in the individual. Geneva's Edouard Schmitz with Gamin, Thursday's substitute rider, could be substituted for Schwizer, who had three knockdowns.
