2004 Olympic Games - Eventing

Touzaint Shows His Worth On the Cross Country Course

August 17, 2004

French eventing rider Nicolas Touzaint has shown his worth once again after the cross country. Already topping the leader board with a extraordinary high score of 29.40 points, Touzaint and Mr Girard Claudon's grey gelding Galan de Sauvagere put in a brilliant cross country ride, clearing the course with great ease within the set time frame. Adding no penalty points to his already fantastic dressage score, 24-year old Touzaint has taken a firm lead in the ranking and can already see the individual gold shining in the distance.

German Bettina Hoy and her grey horse Ringwood Cockatoo also cleared the cross country course, which featured 34 jumps, but had 3.60 time penalty. Her total score is now 35.60 which ranks her second. She came from a third place after the dressage

American Kim Severson improved one position on the score board jumping into third place overall after a clear round on Winsome Adante in the cross country. 2002 World Equestrian Games individual gold medallist Jean Teuleure is now in fourth position on his Espoir de la Mare, a beautiful French bred gelding owned by Mr Christophe Dubois. They have a total of 38.40.

Badminton Champion William Fox-Pitt proved he is one of the anchors of the British eventing team. Aboard Tamarillo, Fox-Pitt showed his experience and mastery of cross country racing and jumping, and put it much speed to finish in a clear round and land on a fifth overall spot with 38.60 points.

German Ingrid Klimke climbed up two spots, ranking sixth now after a very fast round on the English thoroughbred Sleep Late. Klimke's cross country was a true thriller. She regularly had to push her horse over the jumps, spurring him on with the whip. Furthermore, Klimke fell off her horse in between two jumps,as Sleep Late slept in a bend. Because it was not a fall provoked by a jump, Klimke was fortunate enough not to get any penalty points for that. She merely lost some time, but she easily recouperated that by pumping her horse on long galop stretches.

Quite disappointing was Pippa Funnell's cross country ride on Primmore's Rose. The tall thoroughbred is a handful on the course and Pippa continually had to pull the bit to get the horse back on track and focused on her aids. She did ride a clear round, but slowed down too much in the last part of the course. Funnell finished in 10' 14" and got 11.20 penalty points. Funnell captured a firm second place after the dressage, but she lost that position now. With 42.60 points, she's now in 8th place.

American Darren Chiacchia and the Trakehner stallion Windfall (by Habicht) had a very smooth ride finishing in time. Their score, therefore, stayed the same and with 44.60 points they are in 12th position.

The experienced John Williams and Carrick had no trouble managing the course, but finished a bit late. 1.20 time penalty added to their dressage score put them in 19th place with 48.80. "I was surprised to came home outside the optimum time because my horse is one of the fastest horse. But that can happen," Williams said.

Amy Tryon and Poggio II also had 1.20 time penalty now totalling 51.80 points and placing 22nd.

After a mediocre dressage ride of 65.40 points and a clear course with 1.60 time penalty, Julie Richards and Jacob Two Two are now in 36th place with 67.00.

With two phases under their beld, the French are currently in the lead in the team ranking with 113.40 points. Germany has climbed from third place into second with 119.60. England went from first place to third because of Funnell's below-level ride. The Brits now have 125.60 in total. The U.S.A. is still in fourth place with 129.60.

Though Touzaint has a little bit of an advance going into the stadium jumping phase tomorrow, he should not knock down more than one rail if he wants to win the individual gold. Nevertheless, the scores in the individual ranking are so close together that everything will be determined in the show jumping phase.

Mary King of the British team confirmed that the Olympic cross country course was not very challenging for most of the riders. Leslie Law commented that the challenge of the course was not in the difficulty of the jumps but in the allowed time frame. ""It is a very inviting course. It might seem easy but making the time is really making the challenge in the competition," Law said.

The horse-friendly cross country course was easier than its usual four-star Olympic difficulty level. Because the eventing discipline is in precarious position to maintain its Olympic status due to the danger and risks in riding a cross country, course designer Albino Galbari curbed himself in the design. He made a beautiful course using Greek themes all over, but watching the riders go over it, it looked more like a pony steeple chase than a trial for horse and rider, like we are used to see in Badminton.

Text by Astrid Appels
Photos copyrighted: Dirk Caremans - No Reproduction Allowed

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