BRITAIN won team gold for the third time in the show jumping at the Paris Olympic Games on Friday afternoon, just four days after their eventing team was also crowned Olympic champions. The USA took another silver medal, just as they did three years ago in Tokyo, while French president Emmanuel Macron was in Versailles to see the home nation of France win the bronze medal.

For Ireland, it was bitter disappointment on a day which started out with big medal hopes; however, they eventually finished down the pecking order in seventh place on 14 faults. Daniel Coyle was the star of the show, producing Ireland’s only clear rounds of the whole competition.

There were other high profile disappointments, when defending champions Sweden failed to produce a clear round to finish sixth with 12 faults, and Germany, who were flawless in Thursday’s team qualifier, finished fifth on eight faults.

The number of teams was reduced to nine before the competition, when Mexico’s Carlos Hank Guerreiro’s Porthos Maestro WH Z was withdrawn on veterinary grounds.

Course designers Santiago Varela and Gregory Bodo once again built a clever and technical track, which was dimensionally up to a maximum height of 1.65m in a number of places. The format of the class, with just three riders and all scores to count, made for an exciting finale.

Ireland’s chances

Just like the team qualifier the previous day, Blake sent the experienced duo of Shane Sweetnam and the Irish Sport Horse James Kann Cruz (Kannan x Cruising) out first. The 11-year-old gelding was bred by Patrick Connolly and members of the Connolly family were in the stands to watch the grey gelding. They looked to be heading for a clear round before the final fence fell and they collected a time fault to finish with five faults in total.

“The pole down felt a little bit late, I think he rubbed it off behind. I left out a stride compared to other people and normally that’s good for us but today it wasn’t, and then the time fault could be costly as well,” Sweetnam commented afterwards.

Daniel Coyle was next with Ariel Grange’s 14-year-old mare Legacy (Chippendale Z x Bon Ami). Just as she did the previous day, Legacy gave her all for Coyle, never looking like touching a fence to come home clear and inside the time to put Ireland back in the medal hunt.

“It’s unbelievable, I can’t really believe it yet,” Coyle said after jumping double clear at the Olympic Games. “Today, Legacy was a little tired, and myself also, we’re probably not sleeping the best at the moment, so I’ll be glad for her to get two days rest before the individual.

“She’s an amazing horse. She always gives all she’s got. And if that isn’t good enough, I don’t want any more.”

That left them on five faults overall and in fourth place, just a fence off the gold medal and one fault away from bronze. There was then a break of 20 minutes before the final third line of riders came into the arena in reverse order.

Cian O’Connor was in the anchor position with Maurice (Thunder vd Zuuthoeve x Eros Platiere), the 12 year-old-gelding who is owned by O’Connor and the Stoute family from Keysoe International. They were fourth last into the arena and remained clear until fence 10a, the first part of the triple combination, before also knocking 13a, the vertical into the final double. A time fault meant they finished on nine faults and that ended Ireland’s chances of a medal.

O’Connor commented: “It’s obviously disappointing. We jump all over the world, week in, week out, and we haven’t had as many fences down all year. It’s hard, this is the pinnacle, it’s where we want to go well.”

On his round, he added: “I thought I gave Maurice a good distance into the treble, he just squatted a little bit and didn’t get much height. And then with the second double, maybe I lost my concentration a bit and was too close.”

Classy Britain

For Britain, it was plain sailing all day at the top of the leaderboard. As he did in Thursday’s qualifier, defending Olympic champion Ben Maher (Dallas Vegas Batilly), who now has three Olympic gold medals, produced another superb clear, picking up a single time fault.

Then, 25-year-old Harry Charles, who broke his arm and wrist four weeks’ ago in Aachen, jumped what he described as “the best round of his life” to go clear inside the time with Romeo 88, the horse he also rode in Tokyo. Harry’s father, Peter Charles, was on the team when Britain last won gold at London 2012.

The gold medal-winning British team of Scott Brash, Harry Charles and Ben Maher at the Paris Olympic Games \ Tomas Holcbecher

That left Scott Brash last to go into the arena with all the pressure on his shoulders. A fence down would put them behind the USA and anything more than that would see them off the podium. However, there was no need for British fans to worry as Brash’s classy clear round secured victory.

This was the third time for Britain to win the Olympic team jumping title, Their first victory was in Helsinki in 1952 and the last on home ground in London in 2012, when Brash and Maher were also on the team.

The USA silver medallists Laura Kraut (Baloutinue), Karl Cook (Caracole de la Roque) and McLain Ward (Ilex) completed with four faults, those coming from Kraut. For Cook, it was a dream week, as he came into the team at the last minute when Kent Farrington was ruled out and jumped two phenomenal clears at his first Olympic Games

In the presence of their President, Emmanuel Macron, the bronze medal-winning French side of Simon Delestre (I Amelusina R 51), Olivier Perreau (Dorai D’Aiguilly) and Julien Epaillard (Dubai du Cedre) brought the home crowd to their feet when securing the bronze medal on seven faults, the same score as The Netherlands but in a faster time.

Frenchman Olivier Perreau and Dorai D'Aiguilly celebrate after winning team bronze at the Paris Olympic Games \ Tomas Holcbecher

Focus now turns to the individual show jumping competition, with the qualifier taking place on Monday, August 5th, featuring 75 combinations that all start on a zero score. The top 30 horse and rider combinations will then go forward to the individual Olympic final on Tuesday, August 6th.

An emotional Oliver Perreau (FRA) jumped clear for France in the final after being called in late to the team: “She is a home-bred horse. She did everything that she possibly could for me. The feeling going across that finish line with the crowd going wild was a bonus.”

Laura Kraut (USA): “This might be my last Olympics! Baloutinue is a double silver medallist and I am very proud of him.”

Harry Charles (GBR) revealed his father, Peter, who was on the team at London 2012 when Britain last won gold, rode Romeo 88 while he was injured. “My dad did a great job, he was able to school him for me at home and I’m so thankful to have someone of that experience that knows him that well.

“I wouldn’t have been able to do this without him. I got back on Romeo 10 days ago and it felt great, I had no pain. Our family have a lot to thank Ben and Scott for. My dad was on the podium with them in London and now I am here in Paris with them.”

Michael Blake, Irish chef d’equipe: “Today didn’t work out for us. Shane had a fairly good start, Daniel brought us back in the hunt and did a fantastic job. Cian’s horse just didn’t operate today, he just wasn’t as good as he normally is.

“The horse hasn’t had a pole down all year, he wasn’t himself, he seemed to be backing off from early on.”

Asked if there would be any changes for the individual competition, Blake added: “That decision has to be discussed between us all. We’ll look at all the horses in the morning, we’ll see how they are and we’ll see where we go from there.”