You’ve been following my live blog, on which we broke the news that the U.S. had won silver in Tokyo today.
But the story deserves more details than I could give you in a blog, so here they are:
It was down to the wire, with everyone hoping the U.S. could hold off Denmark and clinch the bronze medal in the Grand Prix Special at the Olympics.
That happened with a bravura ride by Sabine Schut-Kery on Sanceo, the attentive stallion who was really tuned in to her astute direction. Great self-carriage and a test that was focused every stride produced a score of 81.596 to stay ahead of Denmark and secure the bronze. It was a personal best for Sanceo in the Special, and the first time the magnificent 15-year-old had gone over 80 percent in that test, as he brought the medal home.
Sabine Schut-Kery and Sanceo.
It reminded me of the 2000 Olympics in Australia, where the Danes were already preparing for the victory ceremony to accept the bronze before the last U.S. rider went. That rider was Christine Traurig, and she delivered the performance of her life to put the U.S. on the podium for the bronze medal. Christine is Sabine’s coach, so it was interesting to see history repeating itself.
“All I can say is what a dream team this has been to be with. They all knew they had to go clean and then it was possible,” said Technical Advisor Debbie McDonald, who gave her heart and soul to the effort.
“It just goes to show what determination and teamwork can do. Could not be more proud.”
Was anyone around the world thinking earlier today, however, that the U.S. could get silver in Tokyo, with the British in a strong spot and their top rider, Charlotte Dujardin, yet to go? Charlotte is a three-time Olympic gold medalist with the now-retired Valegro, and made the brave decision to bring the rather inexperienced Gio to these Games instead of Mount St. John Freestyle, who has more mileage but wasn’t fit enough for Tokyo’s heat and humidity.
When she chose the horse, Charlotte was thinking of the team, rather than an individual medal, and the lively Gio was delivering. But a mistake in the one-tempi’s sank her effort, with marks of 4’s and 4.5’s. She needed a score of 80.4 percent to outflank the U.S., but as things worked out, her mark of 79.544 meant America would be on the second level of the podium, while Britain stood one rank below.
Charlotte noted that her 10-year-old chestnut, known as Pumpkin, has “literally tried his heart out,” despite the fact that he has very limited experience, and felt she can’t ask for more.
“I just went in there to do the best I could I’m absolutely thrilled with Pumpkin,” she said of the horse she found at a clinic in the U.S.
“He’s going to get better and better as time goes on.”
As her teammate and mentor Carl Hester noted, Tokyo was quite unusual, even though he and Charlotte were Olympic veterans.
“The feeling before we came here was that it would be a very difficult and different Olympics. But it’s been an amazing experience for all of us to be together as a team,” said Carl, who also referred to Lottie Fry, who made her Olympic debut on Everdale.
Carl rode En Vogue, a horse he has been training for only a year, and said of him, “he came here like a litle boy and today he went in there tonight like a man. He gave me an amazing ride.
“He did everything I asked – he walked, he halted – all the little things that are so important. I’m still putting the details together, but he feels like one of the best horses you could ever sit on. When he’s in gear, you’re just in the air – he’s an amazing horse.
“We’ve had him since he was five, and I watched Charlotte with him in the early days and he was quite a handful. We’ve always known that he’s so talented, so I’ve just been waiting for the right ride so that I could prove that he is what we think he is – and he’s not the finished article, he’s only at about percent.”
Gold was a given for the Germans before the event began, and they lived up to expectations, earning 8,178 points to 7,747 for the U.S. and 7,723 for Britain. Denmark was far off a medal with 7,540 points, followed by the Netherlands, 7479.5; Sweden, 7210, Spain, 7198.5 and Portugal, 6965.5.
It was the 14th time Germany has won Olympic team dressage gold. As in the Grand Prix over the weekend, the highest score of the day, 84.666 percent, belonged to Jessica von Bredow-Werndl with TSF Dalera, who picked up nearly two-dozen perfect 10s. Jessica’s teammate, Isabell Werth, the only equestrian ever to win six Olympic gold medals, clicked in with Bella Rose at 83.2 percent.
The U.S. started off well with Adrienne Lyle’s ride on Betsy Juliano’s Salvino. He’s been ranked as having among the top five piaffes in the world, and that contributed to his score of 76.109 percent.
Adrienne Lyle and Salvino.
“I was just thrilled with him today,” said Adrienne, who is the top-ranked U.S. rider in the world, at number 15.
“We had a clean test for the team and that was what we really, really wanted. It’s hot and humid and he battled through the whole time for me. It’s not our highest result, but I’m super happy for having flown halfway around the world. Our U.S. teams are really amazing…we really all are rooting for each other and have each other’s back.
Discussing her relationship with Salvino, she said, “He’s taken me to the World Equestrian Games and the World Cup and now an Olympics, what more could you possibly ask? He just delivers when it counts.”
Steffen Peters stepped it up for America with Suppenkasper, who has developed under his guidance into a horse who delivers accuracy and grace in a powerful package. The pressure was on for the team and also because the horse’s owner, Akiko Yamazaki, has Japanese roots and had been pointing toward this Olympics for years.
For Steffen, going for it more than he had in the Grand Prix paid off, with the judges giving him 77.766 percent to continue the march toward the bronze medal.
“He did exactly what I asked him to do,” said Steffen of his mount.
“I appreciate that the judges saw this test was better than the Grand Prix.”
Sabine, like Steffen a native of Germany, used to specialize in giving exhibitions as entertainment at equestrian events, so pointing toward the Olympics with Alice Womble’s stallion was a different goal.
“It’s an amazing opportunity that you work towards not just a year or two years prior. It’s a long road where you strive to take the time to train your horse as correctly as possible and that results in maybe making it on a team or not,” she explained.
In presenting the exhibitions, Sabine took pains to proceed with everything by the book, a practice that would pay off when she was pursuing international-level dressage.
“Even when I did my demonstrations” she noted, “I always was very tough on myself and wanting to do it correctly. I want to learn and get better. That’s what I get pleasure out of.”
Adrienne Lyle, Steffen Peters and Sabine Schut-Kery show off their silver medals.
All the U.S.riders knew today that “One little mistake from one horse would not have given us the silver,” as Steffen put it.
Sanceo shied at a shadow before entering the ring, but he was all business going down centerline.
He was, Sabine said, “so with me, and really like a partnership. He’s just amazing. We’ll give him the credit for sure.”
Her performance brought tears not only to her eyes, but did the same to Steffen and Adrienne.
“All three horses are my heroes,” said Steffen.
Sabine was happy to have delivered not only to her teammates but also to the hard-working U.S. support staff.
What happened today is a big step forward for U.S. dressage, going from bronze to silver. Only the last U.S. Army squad at the 1948 Olympics in London had ever gotten team silver in dressage at the Games.
“What will happen in Paris?” asked Sabine, thinking of the 2024 Olympics.
The unspoken thought was that the next step had to be gold.
As Adrienne pointed out, “It’s only logical.”
