OLYMPIC HISTORY

The early world leaders in three-day eventing were Sweden and later The Netherlands, while Australia and New Zealand, which produced three of the past four winners - including Blyth Tait in 1996 - have been the dominant force since the 1980s.

The sport has not free of controversy; at the 1936 Games in Berlin and again at the 1960 Games in Rome the courses were so hard that several horses died, while in Mexico City, the rarefied air contributed to the deaths through exhaustion of two more horses. The difficulties of transporting horses across the world in years gone by gave rise to an anomaly in Olympic history; the 1956 equestrianism events were held not in Melbourne with the other sports but in Stockholm.

The individual three-day title has been retained just twice, victories in both cases matching the same rider and horse. Lieutenant Charles Pahud de Mortanges, of The Netherlands, rode Marcroix to the individual gold medal in front of a home crowd in 1928 and again in 1932. In both 1924 and 1928 he was a member of the winning three-day team and in 1932 he collected the silver medal in the team event before retiring.

Mark Todd, a New Zealander who sold much of his dairy herd to pay his way to triumph in the three-day event in 1984, retained the title in 1988. His triumph had come aloft Charisma, Todd's love of which inspired him to write a biography for his horse. When Todd's horse had to be withdrawn from the 1996 competition because of a strained muscle, sustained four days before competition, the replacement horse and rider was the team of Blyth Tait on Ready Teddy, considered too inexperienced for Olympic competition. Ready Teddy held steady, however, and Tait picked up one of his two medals. His second, a bronze, came in the team event.

Francis Weldon won the first three-day event medal for Britain, a bronze in 1956. Since then there have been five more medals: for Derek Alhusen, Ian Stark and two for Virginia Holgate (later Leng), while the only British winner of the title was Richard Meade in 1972, when he also shared the team three-day gold with Mary Gordon-Watson and Bridget Parker.

Britain first won that team title in 1956. In the 1968 victory, Meade rode Cornishman V. In the 1972 victory, he rode Laurieston. However, Cornishman V was also in the 1972 team, ridden by Gordon-Watson. The horse joined a host of Olympians who made it on to the silver screen; he appeared in Dead Cert, the Dick Francis thriller in 1974, and International Velvet in 1978.

The three-day team event has been dominated by Australians in recent years, both the 1992 and 1996 titles going their way, Andrew Hoy having shared in both triumphs.

The individual jumping title has never been retained, though Pierre Jonqueres d'Oriola, of France, won the title twice, his first triumph in 1952 and his last in 1964. In 1952, he had watched his cousin Christian d'Oriola win the foil title in fencing while wearing his lucky white cap. Pierre asked to borrow it and won his own title in the same white cap.

The winners of the 1932 and 1948 titles would become known for their lives beyond the Games; Takeichi Nishi, of Japan, was an army lieutenant when he won the Olympic title in Los Angeles and made many American friends, among them the actor Douglas Fairbanks. Then came Pearl Harbor. Nishi was promoted to Japanese colonel in the Second World War and when the US forces reached Iwo Jima Island, he joined a mass suicide.

Another army man whose life took a turn for the worst was the 1948 winner, General Humberto Mariles. In 1964 he was driving home from a party in his honour when another driver tried to force him off the road. Mariles shot him and was sent to prison. He was later pardoned but in 1972 was arrested for drug smuggling and died in jail while awaiting trial.

Ulrich Kirchhoff's victory in 1996 made Germany the most titled nation in Olympic individual jumping. Sadly, 19 days after he won, his horse, Jus de Pommes, died after treatment for an intestinal blockage. Germans are also the most prolific winners of the team jumping title, winning their seventh title in 1996.

The individual dressage title has been retained just twice by riders and just once by the same rider and horse. Henri Saint Cyr, of Sweden, triumphed in 1952 on Rufus and 1956 on Juli, while Nicole Uphoff on Rembrandt for Germany won in 1988 and 1992. Isabell Werth, her team-mate, won the title in 1996, when "kur", dressage to music, was introduced, Werth showing her worth aloft Gigolo to the tune of Monty Python's "Always look on the bright side of life".

She then shared the team gold medal to help to take to nine out of 15 the number of team dressage titles won by Germany since 1928, including the last four.