Versailles, France—July 29
Michael Jung is no stranger to heading into the final phase of an event on top, and his coolness under pressure has been proven time and time again. Coming into the Paris Olympics he already had two individual Olympic gold medals, not to mention his four European individual golds and his world championship gold from 2014.
But at the past three major championships, things didn’t quite go his way. First there was the pin on cross-country at the 2021 Tokyo Games, then he had an uncharacteristic two rails at the 2022 FEI Eventing World Championships (Italy), and at last year’s FEI European Eventing Championships (France) he fell from Chipmunk FRH, a 16-year-old Hanoverian (Contendro I—Havanna, Heraldik), at the last water on cross-country.
But the pair had no such difficulties this weekend. Jung started the weekend in second on 17.8 penalties, the second-lowest dressage score in Olympic history. He then put in a double-clear cross-country round to move into the lead. While his team show jumping round did include a rail, the other top riders had faults as well, so he retained the lead, though barely—just 0.6 penalties separated him and Australia’s Chris Burton.
“I’m very pleased with my horse, with me not so much,” he said following his first round. “Chipmunk jumped amazing. I had a wonderful round everywhere. I was just a bit too much on the inside line to the last combination, I was too close. He tried everything; he jumped perfect in the front, but then he didn’t get wide enough for the oxer. So yeah, need to ride better the second round.”
And ride better he did.
Burton put the pressure on with another clear round on Shadow Man, so at most Jung could have a time fault. But he didn’t need it. He jumped a clear round with his partner of six years to win his third gold medal, the most individual gold medals held by an eventing athlete. With his finishing score of 21.8, he set a new Olympic record for the lowest final score, which was previously held by David O’Connor and Custom Made in 2000. (O’Connor’s score was converted to current scoring methods).
“I try to stay really focused and concentrate through the whole week,” he said. “I’m not thinking to the ceremony or the third time gold medal. So I try also to say to myself: It’s just the normal show. I try to push my horse not too much. I try to give him the feeling like it’s a normal show. It’s not always easy with so many spectators and on such an important show, but I think it’s quite important that the horses feel nothing, nothing really special to have, first of all, a really nice dressage. It works everything really well.
“In the end, I have not [a] perfect round from myself, but Chipmunk jumped amazing,” he continued. “He helped me, especially the last combination, and in the end I need a few times to look on the board if it’s really true and to realize all the other things now happened. I think I need a moment to realize [what] it all it means. It’s a very special moment for me.”
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Though Burton has a team bronze from Rio in 2016, today’s silver medal is his first individual medal.
“Isn’t he a machine? Isn’t he a delight?” he said of Shadow Man. “He just springs off the ground, and he’s got scope, and he’s got care, and he’s a pleasure. So huge thank you to Kate and Geoffrey Guy at Chedington Equestrian, because without them this wouldn’t be possible,” he said.
Perhaps most incredible is the fact that before this year Burton hasn’t competed in eventing for three years, after leaving the sport for pure show jumping. Shadow Man was produced by British rider Ben Hobday to the five-star level, and thanks to Guy Bloodstock Ltd., Burton was able to lease the 14-year-old Belgian Warmblood (Fidjy Of Colors—Favorite Van De Keezerswinning, Winningmood) through the Paris Games.
“I honestly can’t believe it,” he said. “I took a little break from the sport of eventing, so it’s a really nice thing to come back and to have something like this happen, so I’m delighted. I just right now can’t help but think that I’m a lucky man.”
Burton’s time at the Games isn’t quite done though. He was named an alternate for Australia’s show jumping as well with Hazy Toulana, and she’s stabled nearby in Haras de Jardy just in case they get called to compete.
Great Britain’s Laura Collett already earned one medal today, having won team gold earlier in the day. She started the weekend setting an Olympic record in dressage (17.5), with her partner for Tokyo, London 52. They added just 0.8-time penalties on cross-country to move into second, and then a rail plus another 0.8 of time moved them to third after the team show jumping round. But the 15-year-old Holsteiner (Landos—Vernante, Quinar Z) delivered a clear in the individual round to secure a bronze.
“Tokyo I really thought I should have would have won an individual medal, but things didn’t go as planned [when I had two rails], and luckily I’ve learned from my mistakes,” she said. “We had a great trip planned coming here that we weren’t going to make the same mistakes we made in Tokyo, and the plan paid off, and I’m just so lucky to have been given a second chance not many people get to go to one of the big games and try and win a medal, and I was lucky enough to go to two, so I’m just very relieved.”
Martin Leads US Squad
Two U.S. riders made the top 25 to compete for an individual medal. Boyd Martin has a near-perfect Fédération Equestre Internationale record with Fedarman B—just one rail in their career together—and they extended it by adding another clear round to the bank to finish 10th on a 32.1.
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“We’re been jumping the horse at a number of shows in the build up here, and we often do two rounds, and he always jumps better in the second round,” said Martin. “And I was worried he might have been a bit empty or tired, but Peter [Wylde] said, ‘Hey, remember our last show in Princeton [New Jersey], how he jumped better in the 1.35-meter than in the 1.20-meter?’ and he wasn’t wrong. ‘Bruno’ went out there and was just flying. I was just trying to hang on and not lose my position.”
It’s been an emotional weekend for Martin, who is riding the 14-year-old Dutch Warmblood (Eurocommerce Washington—Paulien B, Fedor), in honor of Bruno’s original rider Annie Goodwin, who died in a schooling accident in 2021. Goodwin’s father has been in France this week watching Martin and Bruno.
“It’s just a true honor and privilege to get Annie’s horse here to the Olympics and finish her work,” he said. “You know she selected this horse as a 3-year-old, and she got him up the levels to the four-star level, and I can truly say the last three years have just been an absolute honor riding Bruno, and I just felt like she was cheering us on from above the whole event.”
Though Liz Halliday show jumped clean with 0.8-time faults in the team competition, she could not replicate that in her individual trip. She and Nutcracker had the first fence down and also had 1.2-time penalties to finish 19th on a 40.0.
“It is very unlike him,” she said. “He actually got a bit sharp on me in there, and I thought he was going to be a little tired, and he got a little bit fresh and was sort of trucking me at everything. I think [it was] just greenness. He’s never had to do two rounds in his life, and I think he was like, ‘What is going on right now?’ And that’s really where the time came from, just because he was getting quite sharp, and I … wasn’t able to be as smooth as I wanted to be, not as smooth as I was in the first round. I mean, he’s a young horse, and this is the first time he’s had to do that, so I can’t be upset with him and his overall performance.”
The Chronicle has a reporter on site at the Paris Olympics. See all of our coverage here.
