Olympic host nations always want their own athletes to do well, but efforts to ensure the success of Japan’s jumping team have gone above and beyond. With all three riders making it into the Individual Final, and one ‒ Daisuke Fukushima ‒ joining the top six in the rarified air of the jumpoff aboard Chanyon, this country has certainly arrived.
It was therefore especially heartbreaking when, during the team qualifier on Friday, the team’s second rider Koki Saito had the very bad luck that his horse Chilensky sustained a small cut on the left hind in the warm-up arena. Although not serious, it was bleeding a bit and because of the FEI blood rule and for the welfare of the horse, the team chose to withdraw and the final team member, Eiken Sato with Saphyr des Lacs, did not have a chance to ride.
The rise to stardom for the Japanese has been guided by Paul Schockemöhle and aided by the deep pockets of the Japanese Racing Association who, along with the Japanese Equestrian Federation, purchased several promising horses after the Rio Olympics. They paired these horses with the Japanese riders and all went into training in Germany at Schockemöhle’s barn under the eye of national jumping coach Wim Schröder (NED), who unfortunately tested positive for Covid immediately before the Games and was unable to travel to Tokyo (he instead Facetimed the riders daily). The Japanese riders campaigned their new mounts extensively in Europe beginning in 2019, likely benefitting from the extra year thanks to the pandemic to click with their unfamiliar rides.