It wasn’t meant to be for Ireland’s Shane Sweetnam and Daniel Coyle in the individual Olympic showjumping final today (5 August).
The pair performed brilliantly in the individual qualifier yesterday, with Shane and 11-year-old gelding James Kann Cruz posting the second fastest clear round, and Daniel and 14-year-old Legacy having the third quickest clear.
The 30 combinations jumped in reverse order today, around Santiago Varela and Gregory Bodo’s technical track. Problems came thick and fast with only two clears, from Christian Kukuk and Checker 47 and Maikel van der Vleuten and Beauville Z, by the halfway stage. Steve Guerdat and Dynamix De Belheme then made it a third.
Daniel and Legacy were third last to go in the Olympic showjumping final. The pair started off promisingly, negotiating the first two thirds of the track with ease. But as they turned back for the double combination at fence 12, Legacy appeared to get a little strong and knocked the back bar of the triple bar at 12a, and then the vertical at 12b. They went on to clip the next two fences as well before Daniel called it a day before the last jump.
Daniel explained that Legacy lost a shoe and he lost a stirrup when jumping through the treble fence 10abc.
“It took a bit of my concentration away a little bit. Usually at that point you put the horse back together and take a moment, but without the shoe and stirrup, I thought ‘I better keep going here’,” he said.
“I took the first distance [I saw at fence 12ab], which was the wrong thing to do, and when she had the triple bar down, she knocked the one after. I just thought she’s given a lot this week and [I] gave up a little bit I guess, but I don’t need any more from her.”
Daniel said losing a shoe is “a part of showjumping”.
“We have to be ready to deal with everything. I just needed to compose myself and tell her at that moment that everything was going to be all-right, but I didn’t,” he said.
“I’m very proud of the way she’s gone this week, for her and for her owner Ariel Grange, I’m delighted. I’ll go away with a bit of experience and look towards the next one.”
Shane and James Kann Cruz were second last to jump. They joined the many combinations to knock the oxer at fence 5b, then tapped the back bar of the oxer at 10a, followed by the front rail of part b. This meant meant Shane and James Cruz finished their round with 12 faults.
“I think today he tried his best, and he’s obviously a brilliant horse,” said Shane. “Would I say the tank was a little bit empty? Yes. Obviously he’s done four big rounds in six days, so we’re probably in unknown territory, and you learn from that. I think he got a second wind coming home and he finished the course brilliant which was great to see, so I’m very proud of him.
“Our team in general have put a lot into being here, and he’s done us proud and hopefully we’ll be back again at Los Angeles 2028.”
Shane said the Olympic showjumping individual final track was “the biggest I’ve seen”.
“And then 15 jumps I’ve never seen before. The course designers did a great job; three people jumping for the medals, which is great sport. It was definitely a brilliant track, brilliant course building and it’s what you’d expect.
“They’ve done a great job with the Games in general. Here the facilities have been fantastic; the stabling, the ring, the footing, everything’s been brilliant and the jumps have been beautiful. The whole experience has been very positive, and really something I’ll remember for ever.”
Germany’s Christian, the Netherlands’ Maikel and and Switzerland’s Steve went on to battle it out in the jump-off, with Christian taking home the gold. Steve won silver, and Maikel took the bronze.
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