Japan’s Yoshiaki Oiwa and Noonday de Conde produced a sensational test to take the individual lead in the closing stages of Eventing dressage at the London 2012 Olympic Games in Greenwich Park (GBR) today. The quiet-spoken 36-year-old admitted afterwards that he could hardly believe it. “I’m a bit shocked”, he said at the post-competition press conference. “Nobody expected it – as you can see there are not many Japanese media here!”. On an extraordinary day, it was Italy’s Stefano Brecciaroli who slotted into second place while New Zealand’s Mark Todd moved into third. Both Oiwa and Todd’s results proved pivotal for their teams, with Japan rising to fill sixth place in the team rankings behind the Kiwis, who go into tomorrow’s cross-country phase in joint-fourth along with Sweden.

As it stands tonight, the host nation lies third behind Australia in second while the defending champions from Germany are already out in front. But with just three penalty points separating the first two, and the British less than five points adrift, stalked by the Swedes and Kiwis just 1.2 points further behind, there is very little in it. As German Chef d’Equipe and Coach, Hans Melzer, said this evening, “the four top riders are just one point away from each other and the teams are so close. They might as well start tomorrow on a zero score. Psychologically today’s result is good and our team did a super job and I’m happy for that, but tomorrow is another day.”

THRILL A MINUTE

The second day of Dressage was a thrill a minute from the outset. There was intense excitement ahead of the arrival of Team GB’s Zara Phillips and High Kingdom, third into the arena this morning, and they didn’t disappoint, making a dramatic entrance that was full of pizazz and earning a score of 46.10 despite a serious mix-up over the first flying-change in canter. With Robbie Williams’ “She’s the One” playing in the background, the 31-year-old Briton kept calm and carried on to finish with a flourish and to rapturous applause.

Advertisement