Printon location with John Strassburger
As long as you stay on the track of the Olympic cross-country course at Markopoulo, it's soft as a carpet. That's because the organizing committee must have spent millions on sod, fertilizer and irrigation to make it even greener and thicker than a golf course. So thick and soft that Britain's Jeanette Brakewell and Leslie Law, and trainer Yogi Breisner, were walking it barefoot on Sunday.
But stray 1 foot from the track, and you're in sand, rocks and scrub. Still, some riders are wondering whether the root system is deep enough to withstand the pressure of 75 horses. Said Phillip Dutton, "They've certainly done everything they possibly could. We'll just have to see."
Three of the course's fences are photographed to the right. To see the entire course, go to photographer Charles Mann's website at cmannphotos.com/Olympics.htm and click on "Aug. 14."
Basically the first half of the course is a slow, steady climb to the highest part of Markopoulo, above the racetrack.
Both Dutton and 1996 gold medalist Blyth Tait have said this course isn't nearly as big or technical as other recent Olympic courses, but they have allowed that the heat, terrain and new format (no roads and tracks) will likely have an effect.
Bettina Hoy, the leader of the first day's dressage, summed up the course rather succinctly: "Some think it is too easy, but I don't think it is too easy."
Amy Tryon likes the way it starts: "The first few fences will allow you to settle and find your rhythm. It's straightforward and galloping to start."
Italian course designer Albino Garbari has, naturally, used Greek themes for all the jumps, and the first two fences are extremely inviting, starting with a colorful flower oxer (fence 1) and an equally bright fruit stand (fence 2), featuring ripe watermelons, oranges, apples, lemons and more.
Fence 3, a sunflower-themed oxer, is the first one that says, "Welcome to a four-star." It's gigantic, maximum-sized, but it's off a left turn and uphill, setting the horses up perfectly for it.
Fence 4, called "Garden Stories," is a choice of two oxers, set between three trees, decorated with fake red and pink roses. The right one is about 6 inches wider, but that line is 2 or 3 seconds faster.
The horses will continue galloping uphill to fences 5 and 6, called "Memory Paths," the course's first combination. Again, there are two choices, with the fastest way being to jump the right-hand gnarled tree and take a bending line of three to four strides to a bounce bank, to another gnarled log with half the face of the first log.
