The day never fails to excite! The riders had warned us that the course was very technical, not big, but complex. It was more difficult than cross-country at the Olympics has been in a while, but asked all the questions that Olympic-level eventing should: rideability, accuracy, efficiency, and courage. So sayeth the girl sitting comfortably in the media tent watching the day unfold on a monitor. Horse Sport’s editor, Susan Stafford-Pooley, and I tag-teamed it today with her out on course relaying rider quotes back to me. Obviously the tent wasn’t as exciting as seeing it in the flesh, but I got to watch more of each round which makes up for it.

There were 14 withdrawals and 2 retired but thankfully there were no major incidents. I think Mark Todd’s comment sums it up the best, “It was a three-star track in regards to dimensions but with a four-star technicality.” Todd is making his 8th Olympic appearance in Rio and managed to lead the Kiwis from sixth the second place. I absolutely love that he is still so passionate that he was overcome with emotion when discussing the prospects of another medal.

Here is a collection of what some of the riders said about the course:

Astier Nicolas (FRA) – One of just three double clears, he moves up from 11th to 3rd.
“It’s a very demanding course and there’s never a place to drop your reins and let him (horse Piaf De B’Neville) breathe.”

Pippa Funnell (GBR) –  One run out caused her to score 20.40pp, and she dropped from 16th to 28th.
“It was a big ask. It (the course) has been out of character for the last three Olympics that we’ve seen.”

Clarke Johnstone (NZL) – No jumping and just 4.80 time penaltie. He had been ranked 23rd and has jumped up to 27th.
“I walked it six times, which I think is a record for me. But then I still changed my plan about three of the fences on the course from just watching everyone else go around.”

Boyd Martin (USA) – no jumping and just 3.20 time penalties, he jumped from 35th to 6th.
“I have to say, I thought I was fit but I’m not! I ride events week after week after week and I’ve never been gassed after cross country. Which goes to show how hard I had to work to get him around.”

Sam Griffiths (AUS) – no jumping, 6.80 time and moves from 22nd to 9th. He considered the worst part of the course “That must have been the start box, to be honest.”

Monday morning fun on the base.

Thankfully there was no more machine gun fire at the venue today. I thought I was going to have a gunfire free day, but the exchanges have started up again in the area around our housing village.

There was a sudden surge of army personnel out on the streets this morning. The base has been pretty empty since my arrival, but Friday was a holiday so clearly everyone got out of dodge for the long-weekend. They were back at it this morning, swarming the streets in shorts and wife beaters. I’ll find out tomorrow if they jog en masse everyday or if it was just a Monday morning special. Deodoro is home to Brazil’s biggest barracksand has the highest concentration of military personnel in Latin American, with 60,000 people.

The only rotten news of the day is that Canadian photographer extraordinaire, Cealy Tetley, had all her camera equipment stolen last night on her way back to her apartment. She had been on an official media bus that two non-accredited cons were able to board and take off with her stuff. Thankfully, Canon was able to loan her the equipment she lost, but she was NOT a happy camper and has raised questions about how such a breach of security could happen.

In other news, I had my first encounter with a mosquito today. I whipped out my Off! so fast he never had a chance to land. I sprayed him, sprayed myself, and sprayed the area around me for good measure. I’m sure I smelled great all day, but no bug bites!

We’ll be out early tomorrow to watch the jog and hope to report happy and sound horses.