Germany’s Michael Jung retains individual eventing gold at the Rio Olympics
Michael Jung delivered a faultless round at the Rio Olympics today to retain the individual gold medal he won four years ago at the London 2012 Olympics. The German’s round on Sam FBW was one of only two clears of the riders sitting in the top 10 going into the final deciding round of showjumping.
Astier Nicolas took the individual silver, a huge result for the young French rider. Piaf De Bneville came down heavily on the back bar of the oxer at fence three, but he could afford the four faults and still take home the medal.
Phillip Dutton moved up from fourth going into the decider to take the individual bronze for the USA on Mighty Nice, despite having the last part of the treble at fence four down.
“It was a disappointing day yesterday for our team — a lot of people worked hard to get us here and it’s pretty gutting, but we just had to get up and do our best today,” he said. “I was happy with fourth, I’m ecstatic to get bronze.”
Australia’s Chris Burton was in the individual bronze position before the last round, but he had the final two fences down on Santano II.
New Zealand’s Clarke Johnstone could have taken the individual bronze if he’d had a clear round on Balmoral Sensation but he had two fences down, leaving him sixth behind Sam Griffiths, who went clear on Paulank Brockagh for fourth, and Chris in fifth.
“I’ve just lost two medals,” said Clarke glumly afterwards, alluding also to New Zealand’s disastrous time in the team competition earlier.
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William Fox-Pitt in individual gold after first day of Rio Olympics eventing dressage
William Fox-Pitt was the only Brit to qualify for this final round and he delivered another secure clear round for 12th place with Chilli Morning.
Full 25-page report on the eventing from Rio 2016 in H&H next week — out Friday, 12 August. H&H is published on Friday instead of Thursday next week only to allow us to report the full eventing competition from the Olympics.
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Pippa is a true eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand experience of competing up to British Eventing intermediate and international CCI2*-L level, and has worked in the industry on a top event yard. Pippa enjoys nothing more than immersing herself in the sport at the highest level, reporting from the five-stars and international championships, including the Olympics.