The 2008 International Roster For Olympic Eventing

To download the full roster in PDF format, complete with photos, click here.

The U.S. Team Will Be In The Hunt

In the approach to this year’s Olympic Games, some of eventing’s top individual medal contenders—Great Britain’s Toytown and Germany’s Ringwood Cockatoo, for example—were withdrawn with injuries. And the U.S. team wasn’t without its losses, either, most notably in the retirement of team stalwart Winsome Adante last fall and then the untimely passing of Theodore O’Connor this spring.

As a result, the five horses who will compete for the United States will likely be slugging it out for silver or bronze, since Australia looks unbeatable, and a strong British team, among others, will have to be upset as well. But one of the things that keeps the fans in the seats is that anything can happen, and there’s always a chance that the favorites can be caught, as happened on the challenging course at the 2006 World Equestrian Games (Germany).

For the first time, Phillip Dutton will be competing for the U.S. team instead of against it at the Olympic Games, and his three previous Olympic appearances (including two team golds for Australia) will be an important boost this year for the team, whose only other Olympic veteran is Amy Tryon.

Bruce Duchossois’ Connaught, winner of this year’s Rolex Kentucky for Dutton, has to be one of the most careful jumpers in the sport, in addition to his ever-improving dressage. Although his lofty jump sometimes leads to cross-country time penalties, he’s partnered with the rider who best knows how to make up every second on course. “Simon” could be the best U.S. shot at jumping into a top placing, especially with two show jumping rounds counting in the scores.

Tryon is masterful at peaking her horse for championships, and, not surprisingly, she’s run Poggio lightly this year, competing in only three advanced events (in one she pulled up early on cross-country with a broken bridle). With an Olympic Games, two World Championships and a Pan Am Games appearance to their resume, they should contribute a strong team score.

Poggio surprised everyone at the 2006 WEG by steadily moving up the ranks to the individual bronze medal, and, like Connaught, the second show jumping round, unique to the Olympic Games, will play to his strengths. In 2004, by the end of the second jumping round, he was sixth individually and a crucial contributing score to the team bronze medal.

Gina Miles and McKinlaigh may not have made an Olympic appearance before, but they made their first major championship appearance in 2002, as individuals at the WEG in Spain. Since then, they have proved they can jump around just about any course in the world, and they are especially sharp in show jumping, with only two rails on their record in the past three years. Last year they earned the individual bronze medal and team gold at the Pan Am Games (Brazil).

With her second place at Rolex Kentucky this spring, Becky Holder showed that she has worked hard to reach a new level of excellence.

Courageous Comet is an amazing athlete and can certainly produce one of the best dressage tests in this