2000 Olympic Games - Sydney, Australia

Day 3: Team three-day event Australia wins dressage

17 September 2000 - Source: Olympics.com

Australia leads the world with 112.60 penalties after the dressage section of the team three-day event and is on track for a third successive gold medal. Stuart Tinney and Jeepster produced a personal best score of 36 penalties to keep Australia in front. Barcelona dual gold medallist Matt Ryan with Kibah Sandstone currently have the team discard score of 47.8 penalties.

However, Great Britain has greatly reduced Australia's overnight lead of 18 points. They now are just 2.6 penalties behind. The outstanding performance of current European champion Pippa Funnell (GBR) on Supreme Rock, scoring a perfect 10 for one movement, was the turning point for the British team.

A further 10.2 penalties away is the United States team in third place. Their fourth rider, team silver medallist in Atlanta Karen O'Connor, made up a lot of ground with a score of 32.6. This is the second Olympic appearance for the husband and wife team of Karen and David O'Connor.

Karen O'Connor joins the exclusive group of six riders who have achieved scores in the 30s in this Olympic dressage test. The others are Andrew Hoy and Stuart Tinney of Australia, and Ian Stark (GBR) and Ingrid Klimke of Germany.

The competition continues Monday with the endurance section, where New Zealand is expected to improve on its current fifth place. At this point, the competition is still wide open.

Archive Image: Dirk Caremans - copyrighed: no reproduction without permission

Pictured: Matt Ryan on Kibah Sandstone on the Cross Country at the CCI **** Badminton.