Great Britain held onto the Bronze Medal position in the eventing competition this evening in Hong Kong. The whole team jumped well in the final phase to cement their position, with a brilliant clear round from Tina Cook keeping her well in contention for an individual medal.
The Australian and German teams both put in strong jumping performances and battled to the wire for the Silver and Gold medals, with the German team being the eventual victors.
The top 25 riders now jump again over a different course, which is both higher and shorter, to decide the individual medals. With Tina Cook in joint 6th place going into that final round, she is still in contention for an individual medal.
Sharon Hunt got things underway for the British this afternoon and although she had a fence down leaving her out of the final individual round, she was still pleased with her Olympic performance: “He felt really great and kept going forwards throughout the round. He is really capable and careful, and sadly this is the first fence he’s had down in ages. He’s been a real superstar all week and I’ve enjoyed every minute of my Olympic experience.”
Daisy Dick was next to go and didn’t have the best of rounds lowering two fences and picking up three time faults, she said: “The atmosphere really got to him which is very disappointing because he is usually so reliable, but I blame myself for the three time faults.”
With the three best scores still to go the Bronze medal was still very much in Britain’s sights and with just one fence down William Fox-Pitt helped the team on their way to the medal. He commented: “It was a difficult course tonight with tight turns. It was big enough but it rode really nicely with the horses jumping well and I was pleased with him tonight because he has been anxious under the lights. My week has been full of ‘if only’ and ‘maybe’ but that’s the sport. Yesterday couldn’t have gone better, he was remarkable.”
He was delighted with the team medal: “It turned out fantastically well, not short of a miracle and we are very proud of our Bronze.”
Tina Cook put in the best round of the day for the British with a confident clear: “I’m so excited I can’t breathe! For a young horse he coped brilliantly with the atmosphere. He was careful and listened to me even though he’s has never seen anything like this. I know he’s a careful jumper and I’d be disappointed with anything less.”
Upon securing the Bronze she added: “We are so pleased, we were beaten fair and square but the whole team put up some brilliant performances.”
Mary King was the last of the British riders to go and had an unusual two fences down but this did not affect the team Bronze medal position. She commented: “I’m very disappointed; he was jumping beautifully but didn’t have quite enough power in the final line. It’s uncharacteristic for him – it’s been two years since he had a fence down at a major competition. But it is wonderful to bring home a medal especially when we didn’t have the best of starts; I’m just going to have to go on for another four years to get that elusive Gold!”
The whole team were delighted not only with their Bronze but also with the opportunity that now faces Tina in the individual competition which begins later on this evening in Hong Kong.
Final Team Scores
Gold – Germany – 169.7
Silver – Australia – 171.2
Bronze - Great Britain – 185.7
