PrintGermany may have earned all the gold medals in eventing, but Gina Miles brought the individual silver home to the United States, knocking German Ingrid Klimke and Australian Megan Jones off the leaderboard with her two perfect show jumping rounds.
Hinrich Romeike won individual gold and led the Germans to team gold, and Tina Cook of Great Britain earned team and individual bronze medals. Australia brought home silver in the team competition.
“I was thrilled to be fifth or fourth—I did what I set out to do, and it just got better and better,” Miles said. “I wish my teammates could have been here with me, but they were all supporting me. I felt good the entire competition. I had a plan and stuck to it, and that made all the difference. I’ve always known he’s the most amazing event horse in the world, and I’m happy to see him shine and let everyone know what an amazing animal he is.”
Miles, riding in her first Olympics, said the lights in the arena helped brighten up McKinlaigh. “That little extra life works to my favor,” she said. “The only thing was when the bell rang [in the first round], the countdown timer didn’t start. The clock was on 44 [seconds] but wasn’t going down. I had flashbacks to [the last Olympics, when German Bettina Hoy was confused by the timer and incurred controversial penalties at the start of show jumping]. I said, 'I’m pretty sure I heard the bell, and I’m going.'”
Romeike, who was a member of that 2004 German team which was awarded gold but later had the medals revoked, said that that controversy is behind them. “Everyone in our sport is friends again,” he said. “I’m just very thankful to possess such a wonderfully magic horse.”
Romeike and Klimke each had a rail in the first round jumped tonight, to determine the team placings, but they had some breathing room when Megan Jones and Clayton Fredericks each dropped a rail for Australia and Lucinda Fredericks clocked 2 time penalties. The Germans finished on 166.1, ahead of Australia with 171.2 and Great Britain (185.7).
“He’s very fresh; I was astonished this morning when I rode him,” said Romeike of Marius.
“If anything he got fired up because of the crowd,” said Clayton of Ben Along Time. “I worked hard on getting him settled and relaxed and could feel him getting tense and nervous. He went in and tried his guts out and was careful. I maybe got a little forward, might have rushed a little bit [to fence 4, which he had down]. Things don’t always go to plan, but you’ve got to keep your head down and keep riding.”
