Britain’s showjumpers made an inauspicious start to their Olympic campaign when none of the four riders reached the top 30 in the opening qualifying round for the individual competition at Horsley Park today.
However, the event, won jointly by Holland’s Jeroen Dubbeldam, on Sjiem, and New Zealand’s Bruce Goodin, on Lenaro, came under fire from the riders because of the slippery footing. Two horses fell on the flat while turning and none of the 74 starters was clear inside the time allowed.
Michael Whitaker, on Prince of Wales, who was joint 32nd on nine faults, achieved the best score of the four Britons. Geoff Billington had one of his not infrequent "misses" on It’s Otto and finished 34th on 10.25. Carl Edwards, making his Olympic debut, did comparatively well to finish on 14.75 on Bit More Candy, but John Whitaker had a disastrous round when his huge Dutch-bred stallion Calvaro ran away with him three fences from home. They ended in joint 66th place.
Even so, Malcolm Pyrah, the team trainer, put a robust spin on their performance. "The riders are a bit short of match practice but the horses are jumping well," he said. "As far as I’m concerned the pointers are all in the right direction. We’ll be all right on the day."
That day is Thursday when the team event, in which Britain are chasing their first showjumping medal since winning silver in 1984, is decided. The scores from today are irrelevant for the team event, serving only to determine the qualifiers for the showjumping individual final on Sunday.
The competition, over a big, 14-fence course designed by Venezuela's Leopoldo Palacios Jugo, got off to a nervous start when Saudi Arabia’s Ramzy Al Duhami slipped up on the corner before the water fence. It set a cautious note, with subsequent riders concentrating on keeping their horses upright round the corners.
Germany’s Ludger Beerbaum, who finished third on Goldfever, roundly condemned the course. "We complained after the warm-up on Saturday that it was bad," he said. "If the competition today had been a speed one and not a Table A there would have been a catastrophe."
Billington was equally vocal. "The ground is terrible. The Olympic Games is for perfect horses on perfect ground." But Billington, 42, whose sixth place in Atlanta was the best British performance, was not blaming the ground for his unexpected refusal at Fence 4a, the first part of the double. "I knew it was seven short strides to the fence," he said, "so I took the pressure off to make It’s Otto slow up and he misunderstood me and stopped."
Carl Edwards, also riding cautiously, faulted at Fence 6, an oxer, and both parts of the double at 9. "I’m not worried," Pyrah said. "It was good enough for a first round. He’ll be more confident on Thursday."
Michael Whitaker, though describing the ground as "like a skating rink - loose on top and hard underneath", blamed himself for the four faults in both the combinations. "I felt the horse was jumping well. The second mistake was because I lost my stirrup," he said.
But it was Whitaker’s older brother, John, who caused the biggest upset. Calvaro, who had not competed since Valkenswaard in August, "dropped the bit" on the approach to Fence 11, prompting Whitaker to give him several cracks of the whip. Calavaro was having none of that. He crashed through the fence and then took off, circling half the arena. Clearly unsettled, he also stopped at the last fence. "I think the earlier mistake knocked his confidence," Whitaker said.
Although Germany, the defending champions, remain clear favourites for the gold medal, Switzerland, Brazil and Holland look to be close behind. And despite Britain’s shaky start, they are still in the reckoning. "You can’t discount the British," Beerbaum said. "You never know what they may do."
Jenny MacArthur
The Times
