Live from the Equestrian Olympics : dressage

Dressage Medals Controversy

Jennifer — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:01:00 GMT

Olympic dressage competition joins the ranks of ice dancing with accusations of nationalism in judging. In the Grand Prix Freestyle, held last night, Germany's Isabell Werth earned a score of 78.100 percent to win the individual silver medal despite a major disobedience by her mount, Satchmo, who backed and bucked instead of piaffing at one point during their ride. It was essentially a repeat of the disobedience Satchmo showed in the Grand Prix Special test three days earlier.

The gold medalist, for a history-making third consecutive Olympics, was Anky van Grunsven of the Netherlands, paired again with her 2004 Games partner, Salinero. Their freestyle in Hong Kong earned a whopping 82.400 to secure the pair the undisputed top spot. Winning the bronze -- her first individual Olympic medal -- was Heike Kemmer of Germany, who had a lovely freestyle test aboard Bonaparte. I'd never met Kemmer before last night, but she was thrilled with her horse and their performance and struck me as someone I'd like to get to know better. If she comes to town to clinic, I'll sign up.

The controversy swirled around the failure of U.S. rider Steffen Peters on Ravel to medal. Their final average score (Special and Freestyle) was 74.150, a heartbreaking 0.305 behind Kemmer's 74.455. The crux of the grumbling was the fact that the head of the judging panel, Gotthilf Riexinger, who is German, placed Peters ninth in the freestyle while the other judges placed him second or third -- both medal positions. Riexinger defended the scoring by saying that Werth's freestyle had a higher degree of difficulty than Peters's and that, other than the disobedience, many aspects of Werth's ride were of superior quality. But if the annoyed buzzing on the shuttle buses and at the media hotel is any indication, not everyone believes Riexinger's explanation. "Steffen got robbed!" someone exclaimed this morning.

Peters, who is a gracious competitor as well as a superb horseman, isn't saying anything negative, at least in public. Werth, for her part, spoke frankly about the fact that Satchmo lost his confidence -- apparently this has been in issue in the past -- and said she'll have to work to regain it. She seemed in no way arrogant about her final placing -- happy to medal, of course; but I actually got the feeling that, had she not medaled, she would have been OK with it, despite some inevitable disappointment. She is too experienced a competitor to think that every competition will go exactly as she'd like it to.

Will anything come of this hubbub? If it does, I'll let you know.

Coverage Update

Jennifer — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 03:33:00 GMT

I see that a couple of blog readers have wondered about the competition schedule and how to access live coverage.

As I write this, the morning of August 16 in Hong Kong, team dressage has ended and individual competition begins tonight with the Grand Prix Special. US riders Courtney King-Dye on Mythilus and Steffen Peters on Ravel have qualified for the Special by placing 25th or better in the Grand Prix. Debbie McDonald on Brentina didn't make the cut. And yes, the mare performed very oddly but all those in the U.S. camp have insisted that Brentina is not unsound.

Individual jumping competition began last night with the first qualifier. So here's what's ahead: August 16: Dressage, Grand Prix Special August 17: Jumping, team round 1 & individual second qualifier August 18: Jumping, team round 2 and medal ceremony; individual third qualifier August 19: Dressage, Grand Prix Freestyle and individual medal ceremony August 20: rest day August 21: Jumping, individual final rounds A and B and individual medal ceremony NBCOlympics.com is streaming live coverage.

Hong Kong is twelve hours ahead of the US East Coast, so a competition that begins at 7:15 p.m. local time will be streaming at 7:15 a.m. that same day on your East Coast computer.

The International Language

Jennifer — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 10:40:00 GMT

Here at the 2008 Olympic equestrian events in Hong Kong, it's not love; it's commerce -- or, more accurately, bartering.

Pin trading, long a popular Olympic pastime, is alive and well here. People stud their credential-card lanyards with pins, thereby becoming walking bazaars of sorts. Would-be traders eye the merchandise and offer up pins as prospective swaps. You don't need to speak the language to conduct a transaction. Some of the most enthusiastic pin traders here are the young Chinese women who, as part of the massive BOCOG work force, staff the shuttle-bus stops, information desks, and security checkpoints.

Yesterday, on my way out from the press center, I was approached by a checkpoint worker who gestured enthusiastically at my lanyard bling and held up a square pin bearing the Olympic rings, a Union Jack-styled logo, and the words "Team GB" (Great Britain). She chattered excitedly in Chinese, and I couldn't understand a word of it, but the result was that I got on the shuttle bus bearing a brand-new Team GB pin. And somewhere in China, someone is treasuring her new Dressage at Devon (Pennsylvania) pin.

The scenario was repeated just moments later, at the shuttle-bus stop. This time the exchange was conducted in English, and I now have a pretty silver pin from the Swedish equestrian team, and a Swedish groom has a Hong Kong equestrian pin.

2008 Olympic coverage on TheHorse.com:

Welcome to My 2008 Equestrian Olympic Blog!

Jennifer — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 00:07:00 GMT

Are you geared up for the 2008 Olympic equestrian events -- eventing, dressage, and jumping? I am. I'm Jennifer Bryant, certified Olympics junkie and author of Eclipse Press's new book, Olympic Equestrian: A Century of International Horse Sport. I'm currently en route to Hong Kong for my first-ever sojourn as a credentialed Olympic journalist, and I'll be blogging here about the experience. Currently I'm jet-lagged in San Francisco, waiting for a zero-dark-thirty departure to HK. I'll update you as soon as I can after I arrive. Meanwhile, get a taste of what's in store by visiting the official 2008 Olympic equestrian Web site, http://www.equestrian2008.org. Opening ceremonies (in Beijing) are August 8 (the Chinese consider the number 8 to be lucky, and the ceremonies are on 08-08-2008), and equestrian competition begins August 9 with eventing dressage.