Rookie poised to rein in new era
Jenny MacArthur
 |
From Jenny MacArthur in Sydney
The day before he flew out to Sydney, Carl Edwards received an unexpected package at his Shropshire farmhouse. It was from the widow of Wilf White and contained the riding whip White had used when riding Nizefela in the gold medal-winning team at the 1952 Helsinki Games - the last occasion when Britain won the gold. The accompanying note said: "I hope this brings you the same luck."
The gesture was not lost on Edwards, who makes his debut in the British Olympic showjumping team this week. "I’m the rookie of the pack, the outsider," he said. "I’ve been given a chance and I’ve got to make the best of it." The team’s medal chances could hinge on his ability to reproduce the form that saw him and his home-bred mare, Bit More Candy, gain double clear rounds in three Nations Cups this summer - including Aachen, the most competitive event on the circuit.
At 37, 17 years after he won a team gold medal in the young riders European championships, Edwards has had a delayed arrival at the forefront of the sport. Although bred to it - his mother Susan is a former national ladies showjumping champion, his father, Charles, who "lives, breathes and sleeps" horses is a well-established breeder and his former brother-in-law is Nick Skelton - the need to make money dictated the early years of his career.
"Horses are our business," he said, "as soon as I had a good one they were sold on." One he remembers wistfully is U2 on which he won the Grade A national championships when he was 21. His father immediately sold the horse to the United States where Bernie Traurigg went on to win a medal with him at the Pan-American Games. Happily, when Bit More Candy started to impress - ridden in the early years by Edwards’s wife Amanda - they decided to keep her. "I’m very thankful to my father," Edwards said. "He’s had lots of offers for the mare but he decided to keep her to have a bit of fun with."
Until Edwards’s exceptional results this summer they had not even considered that the "fun" might extend to the Olympic Games. Last year was a year Edwards would rather forget. The mare stood on a nail and was off for six weeks in May. Fit again for Hickstead in July, she succumbed to a second nail injury and was off for a further three weeks. Success in the Daewoo Championships at Wembley in October was one of the few highlights in an otherwise "dreadful" year.
When, in January, he received forms from the British Equestrian Federation - sent to all the Olympic possibles - he nearly ignored them. "Amanda said don’t bother filling them in because you won’t get there" he recalls. He went ahead regardless - and then set about impressing the selectors. A double clear round in Lisbon in June was followed by Aachen where his two clear rounds helped secure Britain’s first Nations Cup success for three years. Malcolm Pyrah, the team trainer, referred to Edwards as "a breath of fresh air".
But this week Edwards will rely heavily for advice on the "old guard". Although Skelton, one of his role models, is not here (he lacks a top calibre horse), Edwards places equal trust in Michael and John Whitaker. Regular members of the Olympic team since winning the silver in 1984 - the last occasion when the team won a medal - Edwards says of them: "They’re as good as anyone in the world - I feel honoured to be in the same team."
With the early arrival of the equestrian teams in Sydney on August 25- and the peaceful day-to-day routine that followed as the riders prepared their horses in Horsley Park - it was not until the opening ceremony that the full impact of being at the Olympics hit home.
"I’ll never forget walking into the stadium with 110,000 people cheering," Edwards said. "It made you realise what an achievement it is just to be here."
He is also enjoying the chance to mix with Britain’s three-day-event and dressage riders. "There’s a new word here - equestrianism," he said. "We’re all part of one big team." He watched in awe as the three-day-event riders tackled the formidable cross-country course on their way to winning the silver medal. "I think they’re a bunch of nutters; I wouldn’t dream of jumping those fences," he said.
He will walk his own course - expected to be big and technical - with Pyrah. "He’s a great help; he’s done it all himself," Edwards said.
Although he packed White’s whip in his bag, Edwards will not be relying on luck. His 11-year-old mare is at her peak and has been superbly prepared. Much will depend on Edwards’s own competition nerve. "I’ve just got to keep calm and try my hardest," he said. Pyrah predicted the "start of a new era" after watching Edwards in Aachen. Thursday will be the day of reckoning.
