Sunday, 04 August 2024
With partly cloudy skies, an ambient temperature of around 23oC and the occasional breeze, today had all the perfect conditions for dressage. Add the spectacular backdrop of the Palace of Versailles, three medals up for grabs and a touch of that Olympic magic, and it was a recipe for the perfect day.
Following strong performances in the qualifying Grand Prix competition, all three British riders had secured a spot in today’s starting order and the final chance to secure Team GB a dressage medal.
The first British combination into the arena needed no introduction. Carl ‘Ester – to quote the French announcer at Versailles – is the godfather of British dressage and for good reason. Known for being a wizard at getting the best out of any horse, he’s been a bastion of strength and experience among the team this week, even going so far as to coach Becky Moody and Jagerbomb alongside his own preparations. The crowds watching at Versailles and on the livestream knew they were about to experience a masterclass in Grand Prix Freestyle test riding.
Despite having a 10.0 degree of difficulty and being set to a new piece of music, the test flowed beautifully and there never appeared to be anything other than complete understanding between the pair. Fame, who Carl co-owns with Fiona Bigwood and Mette Dahl, showed none of the spookiness that he’d displayed during yesterday’s team final, so Carl was really able to push for the bigger marks. It was, in essence, the epitome of partnership.
The movements alternated quickly between extension and collection, with Fame expanding and contracting his body as though he was made of elastic. All week, there’s been a notable difference in Fame’s frame from their championship debut at last year's FEI Dressage European Championship – his naturally upright neck setting and tendency to draw in on himself when nervous mean that Carl’s had to spend a lot of time teaching him to open up, but the work has clearly paid off and he’s much become much longer in the body.
As Carl’s music entered its final movement and the poignant vocals of Mary Hopkin’s ‘Those Were The Days’ sang about thinking you’d dance for forever and a day, there was definitely a sense of something deeper being conveyed. Fame finished with a lovely square halt and Carl saluted with a big smile on his face. The emotions were clearly flowing.
Maybe as moved as those in the audience, judges were keen to reward their performance and scored them an impressive 77.893% for technical and 92.429% for artistic, which produced a final mark of 85.161%. This put them into the lead as things currently stood.
“Oh my God, I'm happy. Really happy,” said an elated Carl afterwards. “That’s possibly the best Freestyle I've ever done, I would imagine. It had a high degree of difficulty, I didn't make a mistake and I love this new music. At last, I had a bit of an input into my music – Tom [Hunt] does my music and has for the last few Olympics, but I kind of just give him a programme and Tom says, ‘I'm going to do this, do you like it?’. Whereas, this time, I wanted some music that means something to me and is just fun. I'm actually riding to the music for a change, instead of just following lines, and I think that's important that it actually matches. It's not just doing lines with some music in the background.
“The horse was the best he's been all week today. He's just so generous. How he was today is normally how he is every day at home. When he was a little bit nervous yesterday in the Special and spooky, that's not him – that's what an atmosphere does, that's what a big arena does, that's what noise does.
“I'm so proud of how he performed today. It was a wonderful ride. He's not the easiest shape, as you can see, so I'm trying to ride the whole time with my hands forward to try and get him longer because that's what I've been working on for a year. But it's coming together and I think that's probably one of the best tests we’ve done.”
Much has been made of the fact that this could be Carl’s final Olympic appearance – Paris marks his seventh outing for Team GB, dating back to the Barcelona 1992 Games when he was on a team with Lottie Fry’s mother, Laura. If this is the last time we see Carl on an Olympic team – the man himself is refusing to be pinned down, but says that it’s likely – he’s certainly left on a high. This marks his best ever Olympic Freestyle test, beating the 82.553% that he scored with Nip Tuck at Rio 2016.
“Why should I not retire after that?”, he philosophised. “I'm not sure I could repeat that again, that's the problem. There's two ways of looking at that – either I'm getting better because today was my best day or I should stop there and not watch the downfall like so many out there. I also have a life and I've got other things to do. Like I said yesterday, I'm not getting out of the sport. I would just train more and teach more. I still love training and riding, and I love training people – that's my passion, I'm not one of those just teaching for the sake of it.
“I’ve loved that last song all my life and, because of how I thought it might end up or how I might feel, I thought that's a great song to finish my way to the end of the test on.”
This humble duo from Yorkshire has really captured the imagination this week and they had one final chance to shine with their eagerly anticipated Tom Jones routine. Throughout the spring and summer season, Becky and Jagerbom, who she owns alongside Jo Cooper, have been concentrating on riding the Grand Prix Special so the homebred ten year old could get some experience so early in his Grand Prix career. This meant that they haven’t ridden the freestyle since London last Christmas, when they set a new personal best of 83.675%, and their only preparation was watching videos.
They cantered into the imposing arena to a huge welcome from the crowd and ‘Bomb’, who already stands at around 18hh, grew another few inches. After a quick canter round, up went Becky’s arm to signify the music should start, and the familiar notes of Tom Jones echoed around the arena.
Bomb’s excitement to get on with the task at hand showed in the first halt, which was brief, and Becky barely had chance to salute the judge before the Dante Weltino gelding was on his way. With a degree of difficulty of 9.3, the test isn’t the most complex in deference to Bomb’s age and relative lack of experience, so Becky knew she’d have to nail everything. As excerpts from Kiss, It’s Not Unusual, Green Green Grass of Home and, of course, Sex Bomb echoed out, immaculately timed tempi changes, piaffe/passage pirouettes, sweeping half-pass in both trot and cancer, and ground-devouring extended trots flowed together to thoroughly entertain the crowd, which included Hollywood heart-throb Ryan Gosling.
A final hand clap down the centreline brought the test to an end and Becky immediately collapsed on the neck of Bomb in gratitude – her ugly duckling foal had blossomed into an Olympic swan. The final score flashed up as 84.357%, which was a new personal best for the duo – what a day and place to pull that off!
“It's good, fun music and there's a good story behind it – it was actually my really good friend and show groom, Kim Masson who, about three years ago, told me that I should use Tom Jones for my music and I was like, ‘Absolutely not far too cheesy, I’m not gonna do it’,” explained Becky on her choice of music. “She persisted and persisted and, about 18 months later, I caved and had it done for my small tour music for the Inter I. As soon as I got it back, I was like ‘Oh, this is actually pretty cool’. It's so much fun to ride to and I think, because it's fun to ride to, the horse likes it and the crowd like it, so it stuck!
“We were a little bit hot in our walk ,which was slightly costly, and still didn't really stand still in our halts, so that's our certainly our homework that we have to go away and work on, but Carl will help. But the rest of it, he was super cool,” she added.
So, what’s next after a week of living the Olympic dream for Becky?
“I go back to Yorkshire. I arrive home tomorrow and on Tuesday I have a full day of teaching booked in, and also on Wednesday. Because I was expecting to have a lovely 10-day holiday while I was here, I’ve fully booked work when I get home. But that's great, it's what we all actually love doing, as well. Up in Yorkshire, we'll still just graft away and keep getting better.”
Team GB’s final hope for an individual medal came in the form of current World champions Lottie Fry and the black stallion Glamourdale.
Lottie had promised a revised version of their hugely popular ‘best of British’ pop and rock medley for Paris and that’s what was delivered. Gone were a lot of the vocals, replaced with instrumental versions and a slightly adjusted selection of songs, but all this did was serve to keep the focus on the spectacular display taking place on the sand.
From the moment they entered the arena to the strains of Queen’s ‘Another One Bites the Dust’, Glamourdale, co-owned by Lottie and Van Olst Horses, reveled in the chance to show off all his tricks to the pack-out stadium. The transitions were crisp, the piaffe-passage was on point, the changes well-executed and the extensions were, as always, breathtaking.
As they entered the complicated final centre line of piaffe, passage pirouettes and passage half-pass, the crowd were clapping along – appropriately – to Queen’s version of ‘God Save The Queen’ and Glamourdale seemed to rise even further to the occasion. There was just one tiny stumble in the final left passage half-pass, but Lottie was able to hold the stallion together without any real loss of balance and they finished in fine style. Lottie punched the air and waved to the crowd, clearly delighted with their performance.
The judges agreed, giving them 81.286% for technical and a huge 96.657% for artistic, meaning a total of 88.971 to slot in behind Isabell Werth and Wendy of Germany, who had taken the lead just before Lottie and Glammy entered the arena. And so began the nervous wait to see if they’d done enough to secure an individual medal. With some big hitters still to come, it promised to go down to the wire.
Next in to try their hand were Dinja van Liere and Hermes from the Netherlands. Their punchy selection of girl band tracks – including The Spice Girls and Lady Gaga – earned them 88.432%, slotting them behind Lottie and Glammy. Then came the biggest competition in the form of current Olympic champions Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and TSF Dalera BB of Germany, who posted a huge 90.093% – that put them straight into the lead and looked likely to secure them back-to-back gold medals.
Last into the arena were the new kids of the block, Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour and Freestyle. Despite only being a partnership since last October, they’d posted the highest score in yesterday’s Grand Prix Special, which had helped Denmark take team silver. Many assumed they were the most likely combination to push Jessica and Dalera from their pedestal and the test looked good but, when the scores came in, it was 88.093% and into a slightly surprising fifth place. Just like that, it was individual bronze for Lottie and Glamourdale – and a fifth equestrian medal for Team GB.
“I’m speechless, it’s absolutely amazing,” gushed Lottie after the final result was confirmed. “I’m so, so proud of Glamourdale. I one hundred percent knew he was capable of it, but to pull it off in there today and get the bronze is just incredible. The support from the crowd was amazing and the prize-giving was insane – that feeling of going round with Jessica and Isabell, two idols and huge inspirations in our sport, was just incredible.
“I didn’t watch any of the tests after mine – I knew they were really good and I didn’t want to disappoint myself when I was so happy with my ride. We were on our way back to the stables and I thought, by chance, that I’d better check the scores before we started packing up, then there was suddenly a lot of screaming going on when we realised we had the bronze!
“To get the team bronze yesterday was an amazing feeling and I think it was so well-deserved for the three of us, then to get an individual medal is crazy. I think you always dream of it, for sure, and I always want and strive to be better. I know Glamourdale is one of the best horses in the world, so I knew it was possible, and I do like to put a bit of pressure on myself, but when you’re in there, all you’re thinking about is that moment. When it becomes reality, it’s insane.
“This is really lifted spirits and we’ve really come together as a team. Our support team has been incredible at giving us the confidence to go out there and get the medals. I think this is just what we, as the British needed. I’m very happy to be going home with a bronze.”
Germany’s Jessica von Bredow-Werndl becomes just the fifth dressage rider to successfully defend a individual Olympic gold medal, while compatriot Isabell Werth’s silver brings her total to 14 medals across seven Games, making her one of the most successful Olympic athletes ever. For Britain’s Lottie Fry, her bronze is the first individual Olympic medal for the Yorkshire rider but, with the string of talented horses waiting in the wings back at home, it looks unlikely to be the last.
Carl Hester finished in sixth ,with Becky Moody just behind in eighth – one of Britain’s best ever Olympic showings.
Gold = Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and TSF Dalera BB (GER), 90.093%
Silver = Isabell Werth and Wendy (GER), 89.614%
Bronze = Lottie Fry and Glamourdale (GBR), 88.971%
6th = Carl Hester and Fame (GBR), 85.161%
8th = Becky Moody and Jagerbomb (GBR), 84.357%
Tomorrow, it’s back to the action over the coloured poles as the individual jumping competition gets underway with the qualifier. Britain’s gold medal-winning trio of Scott Brash, Harry Charles and Ben Maher all come forward in a bid to secure a spot to ride for a medal on Tuesday, which is the finale of the Olympic equestrian action at Versailles.
Full results and times for tomorrow can be found on Olympic.org and read our ‘how to watch’ guide for all your viewing information.