Olympic equestrian team show jumping results: August 17
Kent Farrington on Voyeur loaded the bases all week and McLain Ward piloted Azur to a clear round that brought the U.S. team home to a silver medal in team show jumping. France won the team gold and Germany the bronze.
Brilliant rides for medals
The silver medal winning U.S.A. team rode nearly flawlessly as reflected in the show jumping results at the Rio Olympics. Riders Kent Farrington (Voyeur), Lucy Davis (Barron) and McLain Ward (Azur) ended up with five faults. Beezie Madden, the fourth U.S. rider, withdrew her horse Cortes C from competition due to a tendon injury; he is expected to recover fully.
The U.S. was looking to take back the gold medal won back to back in 2004 and 2008, but lost at the 2012 London Games; it’s not too soon to look forward to the Japan Games in 2020. All three U.S. riders will proceed to the individual jumping competition on Friday, August 19. Based on present form, look for at least one U.S. rider to medal.
The French team of Philippe Rozier (Rahotep de Toscane), Kevin Staut (Reveur de Hurtebise) Roger Yves Bost (Sydney Une Prince) and Penelope Leprevost (Flora de Mariposa) won the gold medal on a total score of 3 penalties. Germany’s team of Christian Ahlmann (Taloubet), Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum (Fibonacci), Daniel Deusser (First Class) and Ludger Beerbaum (Casello) secured the bronze medal with eight faults.
After finishing the rounds, Germany and Canada were tied for third with eight faults each. The bronze medal winner was decided by a timed jump-off over a shortened course. The riders blazed around the course, with Germany’s cumulative time one-half second faster to take the bronze medal.
MEDAL RESULT | Team Show Jumping
Like father, like son
There are thousands of stirs behind the athletes of the Rio Olympics, Reuters reports a touching story about the Rozier family:
"There was probably no one prouder than Jean-Marcel Rozier at the Rio equestrian centre on Wednesday as he watched his son Philippe help France win the show jumping team gold for the first time since he won the title 40 years earlier.Philippe Rozier was not even supposed to ride in what turned out to be his third Olympics as he had arrived as the French team’s travelling reserve.Rozier, 53, was called in after team mate Simon Delestre, the sport’s No. 2 ranked rider, withdrew his horse due to an injured hock four days before competition began.“Two gold medals in the family is unbelievable for me,” the younger Rozier said.Jean-Marcel Rozier, 80, who won team France’s last team gold in the 1976 Montreal Games, was in town to train Moroccan rider Abdelkebir Ouaddar, who rode a horse owned by King Mohammed and served as his country’s flag bearer."
The next equestrian events will be held on Friday, August 19.