Piece of cake – as long as I can go under it.
by Susan Stafford-Pooley
My first live Olympic show jumping experience was today, watching the first individual qualifier. I walked the course this morning and thought that if this as supposed to be the “Welcome” class, it sure wasn’t very welcoming! The fences were HUGE, although it wasn’t the enormous oxers that caused the problems, it was a seemingly innocuous final line that really took a toll. This kept the audience holding their breath until each horse’s very last stride through the timers. It was great to see the Canadians do so well, with two clear rounds (Amy and Eric) and two four-faulters (Tiff and Yann). You can read our full report here.
It was nice to see the stands quite full today – certainly far more spectators than for either eventing or dressage. I suppose that’s not a huge surprise, as this is a big show jumping nation thanks to the likes of the Pessoa family and Álvaro (Doda) de Miranda Neto. There was no mistaking when a Brazilian entered the ring, and especially if they had a clear round. I’m sure the roar could be heard for miles.
Now that is one big honkin’ fence!
Amy and Ian Millar discuss the jumping track with course designer Guillerme Jorge.
I was surprised and a encouraged when Jur Vreiling of the Netherlands was actually booed lustily by the crowd when he struck his horse, Zirocco Blue, repeatedly with the crop following two refusals and elimination. I have never seen that reaction before from a show jumping audience, but it certainly reflects the current tone and what people perceives crosses the line into abuse. You go, crowd!
I was in the stands desperately trying to download some pics off my cell phone – it did not want to recognize the cable, my phone can’t seem to connect to the wifi here at the venue, and I could not get my roaming data to work either as there was no signal. Gah! So there I was, standing and waving my phone in the air to try to catch a signal or the wifi off a passing bus (yes, really!) when a nice young man approached and told me that I would have to stop filming as it was not allowed. I explained my predicament but he walked away still giving me the hairy eyeball. I have no idea how they prevent the masses in the stadium from posting videos – you are allowed to take pics and encouraged to post them to social media, so how can they tell the difference?
Not a lot else to report today, but to quote Curly in City Slickers, “Day ain’t over yet.”
