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2004 Olympic Games
Anky van Grunsven Wins Second, Consecutive Individual
Gold
August 25, 2004
 Dutch
dressage rider Anky van Grunsven has won her second,
consecutive individual gold medal at the Olympic
Games. Van Grunsven defended
the title she earned in 2000 with the now retired Bonfire.
At the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Van Grunsven saddled
the nine-year-old Salinero, a Hanoverian gelding
by
Salieri, who has only been doing the Grand Prix since
2003.
Riding a record scoring
kur to
music of
85.825%, Van Grunsven reigned supreme in the Grand
Prix Freestyle and took the overall lead in the ranking,
putting a golden lining on her 2004 Athens Olympics'
experience.
Van Grunsven was moved to tears after she finished
her Esprit des Chanson freestyle. Winning the gold
once is amazing, winning it twice is incredible. "My
cell phone almost exploded from all the phone calls
and text messages I received," Van Grunsven joked.
German Ulla Salzgeber, who announced before that she
wants to retire her 16-year old Rusty, finished in
second place with a 83.450% score for her kur. Salzgeber
openly admitted that she ferociously wanted to go for
individual gold at the Olympics to cap off
her career with the ultimate achievement. Her silver
medal was sour grapes to her, as Anky van Grunsven
was able to beat Salzgeber's veteran Rusty with a young,
green horse who has now earned the distinction of the
world's best dressage horse.
 Salzgeber rode Rusty for the last time in competition
at the Games in Athens. She will be retiring her horse
after the Olympics. "Rusty will only appear in a few
retirement ceremony shows and that's it," Salzgeber
said. "I will only ride him at home now, for my own
pleasure."
The bronze medal went to Spanish Beatriz Ferrer-Salat,
who finished third after earning a 79.575% in the freestyle.
Adding this to her 75.213% average after the Grand
Prix and Special, Ferrer Salat proved that her 2002
WEG silver medal was not a once in a blue moon performace.
Debbie McDonald, who was solidly in fourth place after
the Special, was in contention for the bronze, but
her 78.825% freestyle (which put her in sixth place)
was not enough to capture that coveted individual medal,
which has eluded the USA inspite of being consitantly
in the team medals.
"I am not happy with myself, but I am pleased
with my horse," a disappointed McDonald said. "It
was out of my control, it is just one of those times,
that the body doesn't work with the brain. At least
I lived the Olympic experience and I can return back
home with my head up high."
Hubertus Schmidt, who said his goal was to finish
in the top ten, landed in a fifth position and made
his dreams come true. There was even more in store
for him than a fourth place if Schmidt had not made
the same mistake in the tempi changes as he did in
the Special. "Again those stupid two flying changes.
I cannot believe we made the same mistake again there," Schmidt
said.
Nevertheless, Schmidt is cherishing his first Olympic
experience. "This is definetely not a horse show
like any other in the world. It lasts over one week,
something that makes the horse aware that there is
something extraordinary going on".
Robert Dover and FBW Kennedy placed sixth overall
after a seventh place in his 78.475% scoring freestyle. "It
was great, so much fun to ride. It is just a shame
that my horse became a bit nervous in the beginning,
because something bothered him at the back of the stadium," Dover
explained. "He lost concetration for a while.
It is a pity because we could have had an 80% today.
The way he moved was like he was flying."
Guenter Seidel was very pleased with Aragon's performance
in the freestyle. A 73.800% score placed them 13th
in the kur and 14th overall. ''I am happy with my performance
and very pleased with him," Seidel commented. "I
was wondering how he would handle the electric atmosphere
and I was concerned whether he could deal with this
situation but he proved that he can. He is getting
valuable experience from all this. I realise that he
is a horse that can handle most situations. He was
very focused today."
Photos copyrighted: Dirk
Caremans
Related Link: Dirk Caremans Olympic Photo Shoot of
Anky van Grunsven
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