Versailles, France—Aug. 3
One-tenth of a percentage point, that’s how close it was between Germany and Denmark in the Grand Prix Special to decide the dressage team medals at the Paris Olympic Games. Heading into the Games, statisticians were predicting that it could be quite a tight race, and today’s competition proved to be just that.
It came down to the last few marks for the final pair, the reigning individual medalists, Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and TSF Dalera BB. It wasn’t a mistake-free test. They had low scores in the collected walk, which is a double coefficient, and lost points in the walk-piaffe-passage transition. But the pair made it up on the final centerline where they earned 9s and 10s on their piaffe and piaffe/passage transitions, scoring 79.95%.
“[My test was] pretty good till the transition to the piaffe, there we had a huge misunderstanding, and that cost a lot of points, but nevertheless, after and before that she just felt amazing,” said von Bredow-Werndl. “And I’m super grateful to have her as my dancing partner. And we did it. It was too exciting to be honest. I don’t need that. But at the end, we did it.”
Seven-time Olympian Isabell Werth said it best: “No one can say that dressage is boring.”
When the final scores were tallied, Germany finished on a 235.79 to Denmark’s 235.66.
“That was a thriller today, I have to say,” Werth said. “I didn’t believe what I’ve seen. And then it was each point was important. And at the end, I didn’t believe that we got it because I thought, oh, it should be 80-plus, and then it was [enough]; it worked. And so we are really happy. It was very close.”
With that victory Germany earned its 15th gold medal and re-enforced a long-held dominance in the sport. They’ve won gold at every Olympics since 1984 in Los Angeles, except in 2012, where they were silver behind Great Britain. Werth also earned her eighth gold medal.
“I’m really proud to have these eight gold medals of course, but now we will take hopefully soon a little glass of wine or champagne because we didn’t get anything here,” she said to laughter in the press conference. “So this is a first step, and then I will take my phone because so far I didn’t get it, and then I think there will be a little explosion on it.”
Werth only started riding her mount, Wendy, earlier this year, and she’s been thrilled with the work they’ve been able to produce so far, scoring a 79.89% in their test.
“I’m super, super happy, and she’s so fantastic,” she said. “I have to say Wendy is really outstanding, and I know when I don’t make a mistake then she won’t make a mistake, so this is up to me. I was a little bit too careful, a bit too much backwards because in Aachen [Germany] I was a little bit too forward. So, that’s a bit the little details we have to figure out, but she’s so fantastic. The passage and the last centerline, the pirouettes and everything is really improving, improving, and she’s outstanding.”
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The team’s final rider, Frederic Wandres, was pleased to score a 79.54% with Bluetooth OLD, saying he’d made the team due to his consistency, and he delivered just as expected.
“I was the most happy that I could show myself and the people around—my trainer, the selectors—that I was able to perform consistent two tests with my average scores,” he said. “Of course, always, you think a little bit here and there, but we are still in a team decision, and it’s very, very, very important that you show your solid rounds. I was more than happy to accept that I could prove it both days now. Of course, I don’t need to lie. I’m not the one which is looking for an 80 now in the Grand Prix or the Special and that’s OK. But it’s also good that if it’s 30 degrees or raining cats, I’m riding my show and getting my normal expected score always.”
Hot On Their Heels
While Germany regularly appears on the podium, the Danish team has only earned one team Olympic medal: a bronze in Hong Kong in 2008. All three riders, Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour, Nanna Skodborg Merrald and Daniel Bachmann Andersen were on the gold medal-winning team at the Blue Hors FEI Dressage World Championships (Denmark) in 2022, though on different horses, and have known each other for years.
“We’ve known each other since we were small kids, and we’ve supported each other and each other’s career so far,” said Andersen, who rode Vayron to a 75.97%. “We were the youngest team of all here, and we come in as world champions, and we’ve already done so much great, but we have so much more to come in ahead of us, and we are so hungry to do even more. But now we are going to celebrate this together.”
It was also a Danish rider who had the highest score of the competition: Laudrup-Dufour and Freestyle scored an 81.21% to boost Denmark ahead of Great Britain.
“It was really the ride of my dreams because yet again today I didn’t have to push her anywhere,” said Laudrup-Dufour. “And when she did the first piaffe from walk, I really had to say hey, thank you. That was amazing. … And so being able to ride in the arena just with guiding and just patting and saying, hey, good girl. That’s really special. And I haven’t tried that since Cassidy’s time. Because he was also so like, ‘Oh, I want to do it,’ just of course with less quality. But now she’s such a performer, and she feels so comfortable in the ring. So I’m just really proud of her.”
Merrald was pleased with her test with Zepter, finding improvements from their Grand Prix test. “I think I had a really, really nice test,” she said. “I managed to improve in the piaffe/passage, also little bit better pirouettes. But then I had also a few mistakes, which still keeps me under the 80%. But that’s how it is. I’m really happy with him and with my performance.”
Bronze For The Brits
In the months ahead of the Olympics, many had Great Britain right up there fighting for the top medals, however their shot at a medal looked less certain when Charlotte Dujardin withdrew and was subsequently suspended.
However, thanks to the sublime performances by Becky Moody, who took Dujardin’s place on the team and was competing on her first senior championship team, and Olympic veterans Carl Hester (Fame) and Charlotte “Lottie” Fry (Glamourdale), the team finished on 232.49 for bronze.
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“I think a lot of people felt that [if] Charlotte [Dujardin] wasn’t on the team that possibly we would not be successful,” said Hester. “So it’s very important for the team that we could do that. Let’s face it, if the same people are on the team all the time, it’s not the greatest inspiration for kids coming up because most kids, competitive kids, their dreams are Olympics.”
“I have spent the last 10 years waiting for him to retire,” Moody joked in response.
Moody commended her teammates for their support throughout the week as she competed her homebred Jagerbomb.
“I have an amazing team around me that has been really supportive,” she said. “We have three absolute superstar horses that have been legends. We’re having a great time now.
“I was expecting a lovely 10-day holiday in France [as the reserve], and it hasn’t quite come to that, but this is quite a bit better in reality,” she added.
With the bronze today, Great Britain has earned a medal in all three disciplines, having already won team gold in eventing and show jumping. They also have an individual bronze in eventing, courtesy of Laura Collett, and there’s the potential for more in the freestyle and individual show jumping.
“To have an Olympics where all three teams [have medalled], so far four medals have been on offer, and we’ve taken medals in everything. … That’s pretty incredible that we are taking medals from every one of those sports,” said Hester.
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The Chronicle has a reporter on site at the Paris Olympics. See all of our coverage here.
