2008 Equestrian Olympic Games Wrap-Up

Nancy Jaffer highlights the expected and unexpected from the 2008 equestrian Olympic Games in Hong Kong, where she reported daily for EquiSearch.com.

By Nancy Jaffer

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The USA's Olympic golden moment: the show jumping team of Will Simpson, Laura Kraut, Beezie Madden and McLain Ward
© 2008 by Nancy Jaffer

Hong Kong, August 25, 2008 -- So that's it. The closing ceremonies are over, the Olympic flame has gone to sleep and London's got one heck of an act to follow when it hosts the Games of the 30th Olympiad in 2012.

The fact that the Olympics is held only every four years contributes to its uniqueness, as well as to the sense of frustration felt by those who didn't achieve their goals or realize their dreams.

Some things went as expected in Hong Kong, where the equestrian portion of the Olympics was held: The Chinese pulled off a magnificent, well-run Games with fabulous facilities; there was controversy over dressage judging and Anky van Grunsven topped Isabell Werth for the individual gold medal in dressage.

But then there were the things that could not be foreseen, even by the most astute student of horse sports. That's part of what makes it all interesting, but who could have predicted that:

A German oral surgeon, for whom horses are merely a hobby, would beat all the professional riders to take the individual gold in eventing. It was a good story, and even better because Hinrich Romeike did it with grace, style and a nice sense of humor.

Conditions would be relatively cool and only slightly rainy for cross-country, after years of worry that heat and humidity would cook horses in that phase.

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Pollution would be a non-factor.

Two of the USA's veteran eventers would be eliminated: Amy Tryon for a fall with Poggio II, the most experienced horse on the team, and Phillip Dutton, dropped from the individual rankings for using boots that were too heavy because of a new rule that was unknown to the American eventers and their coach.

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Martial arts were the big halftime entertainment at the Olympics in Hong Kong.
© 2008 by Nancy Jaffer

The Germans would not get a medal in the show jumping and the discipline would be dominated by North America.

The USA's most-experienced and reliable dressage horse, Brentina, would not even achieve a percentage as high as a qualifying score after imploding in the arena.

The U.S. dressage team, which has been good for the bronze medal at every Olympics since 1992, would come home without it.

America's least-experienced dressage horse, Ravel, who only started competing at Grand Prix this year, would wind up third in the freestyle under Steffen Peters and miss the country's first individual medal since 1932 by a fraction of a percentage point.

Four jumper riders from four different countries would be suspended for using the same rather obscure prohibited substance, capsaicin.

The much-feared August typhoons would indeed strike Hong Kong, but just before and just after the Games, leaving them unscathed.

As for me, I was surprised--and glad--that no horses were completely stressed out by the conditions. The Chinese really pulled it off in a region not known for horse sports, during a month known for its inhospitable nature toward man and beast.

As Princess Haya, the president of the FEI (international equestrian federation) noted about the organizers, "They have given us a wonderful opportunity to show the people of Asia and the people of China what the sport is really about."

That's so important, because universality of a sport is one of the things that helps keep it in the Olympics (something that has been a question mark for equestrian in the past) and expanding horizons will always help bring in more sponsors, a key to the growth and prosperity of any sport.

While acknowledging that there were a few wrinkles, Princess Haya added, "despite highs and lows, we've had a wonderful Games that everybody will remember."

Can't argue with that. China certainly was a different Olympic experience, only slightly the poorer for the fact that the equestrian venue was separated by hours of air travel from the other Olympic sports. As a result, it didn't always feel like the Olympics, where the sense of excitement is palpable every day and the life of the host city revolves around the Games for nearly three weeks.

The voltage in Hong Kong was at a much lower wattage. In Sha Tin, near the venue, there were many posters and signage heralding equestrian. True, the plastic Olympic credential that is part of the dress code for those involved with the Games did not mean as much as it has in other host cities, where it set the wearer apart from lesser mortals.

And in Kowloon, the bustling heart of Hong Kong with its glamorous hotels and prosperous enterprises, the equestrian portion of the Olympics got little in the way of publicity, aside from a billboard or two and the "Olympic Piazza" where plastic blow-ups of the Teletubby-like mascots prevailed and visitors could have their photos taken on an ersatz medal platform.

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