Individual Dressage
Jessica von Bredow-Werndl (Germany) led qualification from over a point to Cathrine Dufour (Denmark). In the final, Carl Hester (Great Britain) would taken an early lead with an 85.161. With five riders to go that still led the final. Isabell Werth (Germany) was next up though and with an 89.614 would take a massive lead. Charlotte Fry (Great Britain) was next up with an 88.971. Von Bredow-Werndl was first to score over 90 with a 90.093 and it was enough to take gold as no one scored enough to break into the medal positions.
🥇Jessica von Bredow-Werndl 🇩🇪
🥈Isabell Werth 🇩🇪
🥉Charlotte Fry 🇬🇧
Von Bredow-Werndl looked like the dominant rider entering the competition and proved to be so. Fry was good in sealing bronze but Werth surprised me in taking another medal.
Team Dressage
Germany led qualifying with almost two points back to Denmark. Great Britain were a further four points behind. In the final, Britain had a lead after one rider from Denmark and Germany. In the second round, that order would reserve. The gap to Netherlands in fourth was almost ten points though, so the medals looked decided. A score of 79.483 would guarantee Britain a medal with the two leaders to come. It was 81.216 for Denmark which guaranteed at least silver. Germany would do enough to seal a gold with a 79.954.
🥇Germany 🇩🇪
🥈Denmark 🇩🇰
🥉Great Britain 🇺🇸
This felt easier to pick once Dujardin missed out on the Olympics. It pretty much went as expected from my point of view.
Individual Eventing
Tom McEwan (Great Britain) would go into the lead with a score of 25.80, only for teammate Laura Collett (Great Britain) to smash that out of the water scoring 17.50, an Olympic record. She would be challenged by Michael Jung(Germany) on 17.80 by ultimately lead after the dressage stage. Again McEwan was in the early lead after the cross-country stage with a clear round. Collett made it a British one-two for a moment only scoring 0.8. Yoshiaki Oiwa(Japan) soon separated them with a clear round. Jung would also go clear, allowing him to take the lead with a spectacular round. Christopher Burton (Australia) and Felix Vogg (Switzerland) would also go clear, leaving them in third and fourth overall. Kazuma Tomoto (Japan) would go clear in the jumping round, leading on 27.4 before McEwan followed into the lead with a total of 25.8. Burton was next to go into the lead with a small time fault leaving him on 22.4. Jung would score 4 penalty points leaving him on 21.8. 4.8 points for Collett would leave her in fifth on 23.1. Tomoto would put pressure on those ahead of him with a clear round and the next two riders would both score penalties. McEwan would also go clear to guarantee a British medal. Collett would also go clear guaranteeing herself a medal but Burton would also go clear. Last up was Jung and he would become the joint most decorated eventer of all time when going clear and winning a third individual gold.
🥇Michael Jung 🇩🇪
🥈Christopher Burton 🇦🇺
🥉Laura Collett 🇬🇧
I felt I was along the right lines here. Jung was a surprise medalists according to the odds but his quality and big meet experience is second to none. I also said I could have any of the British getting medals but put the wrong one. Burton was one that I ignored because of his lack of his form in this event in recent years.
Team Eventing
Great Britain led after the dressage stage with three riders in the top eleven. Germany followed in second over seven points behind. In the cross country Australia and Germany both saw a rider eliminated taking them out of medal contention. Britain led France by 4.70 with Japan a further 6.60 back. It was a promising start to the jumping round for Great Britain as Canter only scored four penalty points to the eight of Touzaint from France. Japan would take a 20 point penalty for replacing a rider which put them behind Switzerland and Belgium. It was another four penalties for the French team in the second run and when Britain went clear it looked like they had the necessary edge for the final run. Neither Belgium or Switzerland could keep it clear for the bronze medal and instead Japan were able to take it. France would score 4.4 penalty points to leave Britain in pole position to take gold and Collett would have a clear enough round to secure the win.
🥇Great Britain 🇬🇧
🥈France 🇫🇷
🥉Japan 🇯🇵
Great Britain were as good as I expected. The big shock came as Germany were eliminated due to a rider being eliminated. I mentioned Japan as an outsider and without Germany they may well have been my prediction.
Individual Jumping
Twenty riders would reach the final with no penalties. Riders who did not make the final included Pedar Fredricson(Sweden), McClain Ward (United States) and Jerome Guery (Belgium). Julien Epaillard (France) would lead the field heading into the final. The first clear round of the final came from Christian Kukuk (Germany) and he was followed by Maikel van der Vlueten (Netherlands). Pre event favourite Henrik von Eckermann (Sweden) would go wrong and end up coming off on the horse. In the jump-off, only Kuluk would go clear. Guerdat would knock one down near the end of his routine, taking silver.
🥇Christian Kuluk 🇩🇪
🥈Steve Guerdat 🇨🇭
🥉Maikel van der Vlueten 🇳🇱
The jumping event is always the hardest to predict of the equestrian events. Guerdat and Van der Vlueten were both mentioned as possible medalists.
Team Jumping
Germany led the first round of qualification. That was despite United States and Great Britain both going faster overall. Both would score faults though. With just one penalty point after the first jumper, Great Britain would take the early lead in the final. A second clear round kept them in first followed by France on three penalty points and Ireland and United States on four. United States would go clear whereas Ireland would score nine penalty points. Four points for France would leave them tied with Netherlands but ahead because of the faster combined time. Scott Brash would go round with dropping a fence, despite a wobble on 4B, only scoring one penalty point for time but winning the gold.
🥇Great Britain 🇬🇧
🥈United States 🇺🇸
🥉Germany 🇩🇪
I mentioned the unpredictability of the jumping events but this was unexpected to me. Germany and Great Britain were mentioned as my fourth and fifth team but it was still a surprise to me.
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