Great Britain are the new Olympic Champions
Friday 02 August 2024
Team GB has secured their first Olympic jumping team medal since London 2012 – and there were a few familiar faces from that day on the podium.
Ben Maher, Harry Charles and Scott Brash were the only team not to add any jumping penalties to their scorecard in a tense showdown between nine nations, following the withdrawal of Mexico before competition got under way.
Course designers Santiago Varela (ESP) and Gregory Bodo (FRA) had produced another spectacular track, full of exquisite details and nods to French culture. The tricky lines and up-to-height fences promised that this would be a true test of jumping ability, as one would expect from the biggest sporting event in the world.
Ben Maher and Dallas Vegas Batilly
Staying in the pathfinder role were Ben Maher and Dallas Vegas Batilly. The classy French mare, who seems almost destined to be at this Games thanks to having the damsire L’Arc de Triomphe, had impressed yesterday with a clear round that was key in helping Team GB secure qualification for the final. However, with the scoreboard wiped clean, they’d need to produce the goods again today to keep any hopes of a medal alive.
The pair set off, with Charlotte Rossetter, Pamela Wright and Ben’s own mare looking a fraction less assured than she had the previous day. However, that didn’t stop them from putting in another fantastic round, which looked more and more confident as they moved through the course. They crossed the line with just one time fault – the first combination of the day to leave all the poles in the cups.
“Yeah, it was a great round again today, so I’m very happy,” said Ben. “She felt a little unsettled just as I went in today. There are a lot of people here and they told me outside that the time was short. Maybe I just underestimated it a tiny bit on the rollbacks, but we left the jumps up and gave our team a great start.”
When asked where he could have made up the time, he said; “I didn't watch the video, yet, but we're talking 0.3 of a second. All the distances are very, very slow for me and the horse today, which takes a lot of time up. I could perhaps go shorter back after the double, take a bit of a risk, but we’re in a good position.”
Harry Charles and Romeo 88
The son of a man with his own Olympic team gold medal, Harry came to Paris in less than optimal circumstances thanks to breaking his wrist under a month ago. However, the best medical treatment available courtesy of the World Class Programme and National Lottery funding meant he could arrive at his second Games – at just 25 years old – in the best possible readiness.
Team GB might have been in the lead, thanks to Ben and ‘Tilly’s’ fabulous round, but the other nations were close behind and there was no room for error. When Harry got his senior team call-up for Tokyo 2020, he and Romeo were the underdogs – now, veterans of Nations Cups and European and World championships, the pair were more than capable of keeping the Brits in the hunt.
It was looking to be another textbook round, with the pair full of confidence and athleticism, until the treble. As they cleared the final part, Romeo’s back foot caught one of the poles, causing it to bounce in its cups – onlookers in the stadium and at home alike held their breath, but it stayed up. Harry rallied Ann Thompson’s gelding and they completed the rest of the course without incident, comfortably finishing inside the time to keep Team GB on a score of one and in the position of jumping for a gold medal in the final rotation.
“I’m speechless,” said a slightly dazed Harry. “It was probably the best round of my life and definitely the biggest moment in my career so far. To have me be good and Romeo just come through like that is probably the best he’s ever jumped on this stage at this moment. It's taken a lot for us all to get to this position and I'm really proud of him. Hopefully it's enough now to get something.”
Onlookers will have seen Harry wave to people in the crowd as he exited the arena.
“All my friends are here in Great Britain shirts and they were holding a big flag up with Romeo's name on it,” he explained. “I’d promised to look out for them today, and I saw them there, so I gave them a little wave. They're friends from home. I went to school with all of them, they're my biggest supporters and they've travelled a long way – well, I say a long way, they've not travelled that far, but for them it's a long way. They booked this trip a year in advance and when I broke my arm they were worried they weren't going to get refunded on the Airbnb. I'm happy they all made it and it's nice to do it. They've taken such an interest in the sport and they're my best friends, so to have them here really means a lot.”
The question on everyone’s lips was whether Peter Charles, Harry’s father who won team gold alongside Ben, Scott and Nick Skelton at London 2012, had given his son some advice.
“Just to go and enjoy it,” said Harry. “It’s a once in a lifetime experience – luckily it's not, but it feels like it, so to speak – and yeah, just enjoy it. We worked so hard to get here, so I wouldn't say I enjoyed it in there, but when I went through the finish I definitely did.”
Scott Brash and Jefferson
If there was one rider you’d want be responsible for bringing home the necessary result in such a high-pressure situation, it’s Scott Brash. Renowned for his cool head, the Scotsman is no stranger to putting it all on the line for an Olympic gold medal – he was part of the gold medal-winning team at London 2012, when a jump-off was required to decide the final honours.
Due to the final rotation of riders competing in reverse order of merit based on the results from the previous two rounds, Scott and Jefferson were to be the final combination into the cauldron. As things stood after all the other nations had made their final play, they knew they could afford two time penalties to stay ahead of the USA, but not have any fences down. The pair set off, with Scott using that tiny buffer of time to keep Lady Pauline Harris and Lady Pauline Kirkham’s sensitive gelding steady and focused in the electric atmosphere. Fence by fence, they popped their way round, never seeming in danger of touching a pole thanks to Jefferson’s incredible scope.
As they came to the last, still clear, it was just a question of time. Could they bring it home for Team GB, or would the penalties start to rack up? As the clock stopped on 79:54, it was confirmed – one time penalty, meaning the gold was back in British hands for the first time in 12 years. Scott punched the air, the Team GB support team on the kiss and cry went wild, and British equestrian fans around the world celebrated.
“You just have to stay focused on your horse, you know, how to ride your course in order to give them the best possible chance to jump clear,” explained Scott when asked about the pressure he must have felt going into the arena. “You try to block everything else out, and that's all I tried to do. The lads put me in an unbelievable position to do that, and thankfully it all paid off today.
“Jefferson was amazing. He coped unbelievable with the atmosphere and stayed relaxed, cool and focused on his job. I'm absolutely delighted with him.”
Feeling all the emotions
This result makes Peter and Harry the first father and son pairing to win gold medals since 1948. Harry noted in the press conference that it was watching his father win gold in London at the age of 13 that inspired him to take up showjumping as a career goal.
“Yeah, it was probably that moment, actually, I realised,” he explained. “My dad wanted me to be a golfer, so I was playing a lot of golf and riding a few ponies at the same time. But, I realised I was a lot better at riding a horse than swinging a golf club, and that definitely was probably the most pivotal moment when I was younger.
“It's pretty cool to be on a team with Ben and Scott – they're both my heroes, guys I've looked up to since I started riding. To be on the podium with them? My inner younger self is freaking out a bit.”
“He looks exactly the same, just a smaller version. We call him Bieber in the team,” joked Ben in response.
Speaking of Ben, this third Olympic gold medal cements him as one of the most decorated Team GB equestrian athletes alongside eventer Richard Meade and dressage rider Charlotte Dujardin.
“I just heard that,” he said when asked about it in the press conference. “It's incredible. I didn't know that statistic, but everyone's as important as each other, and I just have a lot to thank this team for. It's a team effort. There are so many people that we could thank that aren't here with us, but these guys on the team… we have a great team spirit. I think, in the end, sometimes we have different horses, different things, but we really come together, and we really believe in each other, and for me, personally, that’s what gave us the edge today.
Final words must go to Jumping Performance Manager Di Lampard, who has dreamed of this result for a very long time.
“Well, the plan has come together after four years and it’s absolutely amazing,” she said after the medal ceremony. “I’m completely overwhelmed. They were outstanding. The lads were ice cool and deliver on the given day.
When asked about the team line-up, she said; “We always put Ben out first – he's the pathfinder, he's so good at it and was great today. To put Harry in the middle was an obvious one. His clear round was absolutely joyous and probably put even more pressure on Scott – but we know he's got ice cold veins and he can deliver. He just gave Jefferson just the right amount of time before coming in after the French and delivered in real style.”
The final standings
While the Brits had led throughout the day, it certainly hadn’t been easy. The USA had pushed right to the last, taking silver on a score of four from first-line rider Laura Kraut and Baloutinue. One down from Julien Epaillard had tipped the French team down into bronze, but the home side still had something to celebrate with their second equestrian medal so far of the Games. To many people’s surprise, Sweden, Germany and Ireland, who had all been favourites for the podium, finished further down the rankings.
1st = Great Britain (2)
2nd = USA (4)
3rd = France (7)
4th = Netherlands (7)
5th = Germany (8)
6th = Sweden (12)
7th = Ireland (14)
8th = Belgium (20)
9th = Israel (33)
Image: Tilly Berendt
