PrintIt all came down to a jump-off for the gold medal, Aug. 21, between Eric Lamaze of Canada and Rolf-Goran Bengtsson of Sweden. They were the only riders to post clear rounds over both courses of the individual Olympic show jumping final in Hong Kong, China.
By the time Lamaze entered the arena, he knew he’d only need to jump clear to best Bengtsson, who’d already had a rail. Lamaze just put the pedal down coming to the final wall. “I basically went as fast as I could and hoped that even if I knocked it we’d be faster,” he said.
“This is a dream come true,” added Lamaze. “I’m proud of the people who supported me. It took a lot of support from a lot of people who allowed me to come back.”
Seven riders jumped-off for the bronze, and Beezie Madden proved fastest of the three clears. Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum of Germany and Rodrigo Pessoa of Brazil also jumped clear but not as fast.
Madden took a tip from her teammate McLain Ward, jumping over some bushes on the rollback on the way to the third of the jump-off fences. With Michaels-Beerbaum posting a blazing time of 35.37 seconds, Madden knew she’d have to do something different to earn the medal.
“McLain paved the way for jumping the bush, and when it worked for him, he showed me where to go. My horse is so handy and brave,” she said. “It ended up being kind of fun, jumping over the bush. It was a good risk to take.
“I came here to defend our gold medal, and we did that. I wanted an individual medal, and I did that,” she added. “Hats off to Eric—that’s great for North America.”
Madden said Authentic jumped one of his best rounds of the competition in the first round of the individual final. “He felt great, and he has plenty of energy,” she said.
Ward was having a great round, pioneering the fastest route through the decorative foliage, until the last fence, where he took a risk at speed for his only chance to take the medal, but Sapphire went through the top of the wall.
