The British equestrian team brushed off the Charlotte Dujardin horse whipping scandal as they secured Team GB‘s first gold of Paris 2024 today.
The riders sealed a fifth Olympic eventing team title at the Chateau de Versailles, which meant they defended the Olympic crown for the first time since 1972.
It comes after Team GB’s run-in to the opening day of competition had been overshadowed by the publication of a video of dressage star Dujardin repeatedly hitting a student’s horse with a whip from the ground during a coaching session.
Dujardin subsequently withdrew from Paris last Tuesday and was issued with a six-month ban by equestrian’s governing body pending an investigation.
While Dujardin was not part of the eventing team and was instead supposed to enter the solo and team dressage competitions, the controversy has rocked the sport in recent days and led to wider questions over the treatment of competitive horses.
But today, Laura Collett, Tom McEwen and Ros Canter enjoyed a perfect opening day, chalking up record scores for the dressage phase both as a group and for Collett individually to bring home the gold.
Great Britain’s Laura Collett aboard London 52 celebrates following the eventing team jumping final after winning a gold medal at the Chateau de Versailles at Paris 2024 today
Great Britain’s Tom Mcewen aboard Jl Dublin during the eventing team jumping final today
Ros Canter aboard Lordships Graffalo during the eventing team jumping final today
A total of 15.8 penalties incurred on Saturday’s cross-country stage had made it tight at the top with second-placed France, but a clear round from McEwen, with one fence down from both Canter and Collett, was good enough to seal gold.
Team GB finished on 91.30 penalties, ahead of France in second on 103.6 and Japan in third on 115.80.
Britain also triumphed in the team competition in Tokyo, with this victory making them the first nation to win the team gold medal on five occasions.
Canter was first out for Britain, knocking down the sixth fence but with the first French rider Nicolas Touzaint having had two down, Britain still held a healthy advantage.
McEwen’s clear only strengthened that position and while Collett hit the last, gold was already assured.
After sealing the victory for her team on London 52, Collett said: ‘We would have liked a little bit more leeway, but we are very good jumpers and we’re such a team that we just knew if we stayed calm, bent to the process and rode every stride.’
Canter, who leads the current world ranking with her horse Lordships Graffalo, failed in her bid to challenge yesterday’s penalty. This also blew her chances for an individual medal, to be decided later today.
‘I feel unbelievably sorry for Lordships Graffalo’s owners who have been such phenomenal supporters of mine. They’ve found the whole thing quite a hard pill to swallow,’ Canter told reporters.
It comes after diving star Tom Daley won silver today in the men’s synchronised 10m alongside teammate Noah Williams.
Elsewhere in Paris, Team GB stars Tom Pidcock and Max Whitlock will be going for medals in their respective events later today.
After the eventing title was secured, Canter’s husband Chris McAleese, who watched with the equestrian’s parents, said: ‘Obviously we feel elated.
‘I think the whole team, the support team in the crew and everything else have done a stunning job to get the team to the position where it was.
Charlotte Dujardin, the three-time Olympic dressage champion, pictured with her horse Gio
‘I suppose the disappointment of the 15 penalties was actually overcome in terms of the team and the team came to be successful as a result.’
Jumping in a packed arena, many riders said the loud crowd was challenging, especially for younger horses that had gained no such experience over the past years marked by the pandemic.
French rider Touzaint, who got 8 penalty points with his horse Diabolo Menthe, said he was disappointed.
He told reporters: ‘I managed to ride the course I had planned for. We had nicely calculated everything … But the horse gets sloppy twice on two verticals at the end of the course. That’s the only explanation I have for now.’
His teammate Stephane Landois, who made his Olympic debut on grey gelding Chaman Dumontceau, the former horse of one of his friends who had died in a cross-country accident, said joy and pride were still the overwhelming feelings in the team.
'These are unique Games, galloping at Versailles chateau is something that has never been done before and probably ever will be done, so it's a medal that I think will be engraved in the minds of all the French people', he said.
Olympic eventing was a three-day competition, combining dressage and showjumping with a cross-country race.
Meanwhile, this afternoon Pidcock will be looking to defend his Olympic crown in the men's mountain bike cross-country.
The 24-year-old, who won World Championship gold last year, has recovered from a bout of Covid-19 which forced him to withdraw from the Tour De France earlier this month.
Into the evening, three-time Olympic gold medallist Whitlock will compete in the men's artistic team all-around final, alongside Joe Fraser, Harry Hepworth, Jake Jarman, and Luke Whitehouse.
Speaking on Saturday in the aftermath of the Dujardin scandal, Canter said: 'When I get to an event like this, I stay clear of social media so I haven't read or watched anything around that matter, so I very much tried to stay in my bubble as it helps my performance.
'All I can hope is that as a team we can do the equestrian world proud this week, because welfare is always at the forefront of our mind.'
Also on Saturday, McEwen described the Dujardin case as 'deeply sad' for equestrian sport, but insisted that he does not believe it is the norm.
He said: 'We are 110 per cent behind horse welfare. I definitely don't condone at all Charlotte's behaviour, but she has put her hands up to it, owned it and it's not for me to say, it's for the course, the process and the people to decide what punishment she should be getting for her actions.
'She is a human being at the end of it, so we have to respect her rights as well.
'It was a shock, but we have come here to do our job as an eventing team, so we have our focus and with eventing, you don't really get too much time on your hands.
'We've seen the news, we've read it, it's deeply sad for our sport, but at the same time I don't believe our sport is like that and we move on.'
