Ros Canter says she may get a surprise when she rides into the arena at the Paris Olympics on Lordships Graffalo, having acted as the British team alternate at the Tokyo Games, which took place behind closed doors because of Covid-19.
“In my head, I keep imagining competing at the Olympics with empty stands and I think I might get a shock as it’ll be so different,” she says. “But I learnt from Tokyo that I really wanted to compete at an Olympics. It’s an extremely special environment.
“The British guys last time were ultimate professionals when it came down to the competition. They all stuck together and hopefully I played my part. It fuelled the desire to get there myself and with ‘Walter’ being the amazing horse he is, he’s helping keep me on that track.”
At the time of our interview, the British eventing squad alternate for Paris had not been announced. Since then, Yasmin Ingham has been named in that role. Ros has some great advice for her, having held that tricky position in Tokyo.
“I’ll always be there to chat with the alternate rider if they want to,” she says. “There are lots of things I took away from Tokyo that could help make sure their experience is as good as it can be.
“Emotions are going to be up and down and change constantly. I went through phases where I felt completely ready to perform and felt deflated when I didn’t. Then on cross-country morning, I remember thinking, ‘If I got a call to say I was up, am I in the zone? Have I walked the course well enough? Could I do this?’ I was excited when they won gold, but incredibly sad at the same time and it’s just managing yourself.
“Tokyo was hard to find your own space as we were limited in where we could go. It will hopefully be easier for the alternate rider in Paris to take themselves away if they need a break and I think that will be a healthier situation.”
Ros was with her daughter Ziggy at her yard when performance manager Dickie Waygood rang to tell her she’d been selected.
“It was early evening and Ziggy was running around. It was quite a tricky conversation as she kept butting in and wanting me to scooter down the yard with her!” says Ros.
“My reaction was relief first and foremost. It’s a funny year, an Olympic year, and a long process. With the weather and everything else, there’s been lots of chopping and changing of plans and you never quite know if you’ve got it right. Then I was excited and looking forward to telling Walter’s owners Michele and Archie Saul as I know how much it means to them as well.”
Family is important to Ros and she had a “much-needed” weekend away at Centre Parcs at the end of June.
“We have Ziggy’s birthday coming up too and it’s nice to spend time with the family and have time to rest as well as to practise,” she says. “My husband Chris and Ziggy deserve my time as much as anyone so I will spend time with the people who are important to me.”
Ros’s extensive championship experience has prepared her for the build-up and competing in Paris.
“I know myself relatively well in those situations and it’s a case of sticking to the system I know works for me,” she says. “The temptation is to look left and right a little bit. That’s where I can take comfort that my system has worked before for me and I’ve got the same people around me, the team’s the same.
“I like to think of it as work – I’m employed to do this job, employed in the World Class system to compete at the Olympics. Like anyone in any other job, my job is to do my best for them. That’s a good mindset, takes the emotion out of it a little bit and keeps me on track.”
While Ros Canter is aware of sticking to the system she knows at the Paris Olympics, she also says the Brits are very lucky with the World Class programme and the trainers who are available if plans need to change.
“You have got to be reactive with horses – if we get to Paris and a horse is excited, we’ll get them out more, graze them more, do a bit more work. We are lucky we have people on hand to help us make decisions,” she says.
Ros says she is not particularly superstitious, but three is her number.
“I try to take the mindset of controlling the controllables, but not worrying too much about the rest of it,” she says. “But I do naturally do things in three, particularly eating, like if I was eating crisps I’d pick up three.”
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