Charlotte, Isabell and Kristina on the podium.
by Susan Stafford-Pooley
Today was a rather bittersweet, as it is my last day in Rio. Part of me wants to stay for the rest of the jumping, considering how promising the Canadian Team looks, but duty calls back at the office and an editor’s work is never done. I am so grateful for the opportunity to come to these Olympics, but also looking forward to being homeward bound tomorrow morning.
The boys and their steeds.
Good dog!
Tank Man!
Because of my imminent leave-taking, I walked to the venue today from the hotel so that I could take a decent photo of Tank Man and all the airplanes and military horses kitted out in riot gear. It was a beautiful morning, warm and a bit hazy and humid with the promise of extreme heat later in the day – not ideal for the dressage horses who were performing their Freestyles for the individual medals.
Regarding the Freestyles, it was nice to see a fairly good crowd, considering their were no Brazilians competing today. Overall, I thought that most of the music was rather tame and uninspiring, which seems a waste in a freestyle to music, after all. Some of the routines were lovely, but hardly exciting and without any goosebump-causing moments until Spain’s Severo Jesus Jurado Lopez, ranked 27th on the world list, rode Lorenzo to a crowd-pleasing routine concluding with a rousing passage up centre line accompanied by fans clapping to “It’s My Life.” His score of 83.625% was booed by the crowd, who thought he deserved more.
I don’t imagine the final medal winners were a big surprise to anyone – ‘Queen Charlotte’ (GBR) and Valegro took the gold decisively with 93.857% – nearly 5 points ahead of silver medalist Isabell Werth (GER) with Weihegold OLD, while fellow German and world #1 Kristina Broring-Sprehe grabbed the bronze riding Desperados FRH.
In addition to being joined again by the candid Christilot Boylen (read all about that here) and her no-nonsense comments, Belinda Trussell ventured up into the tribune to get away from the ruthless sun in the stands. She is the sweetest person, and it was nice to hear her take on things as well as she explained the rules and nuances of freestyle tests.
We in the media have been discussing how much the industry has changed from ‘back in the day’ when we would watch the show, takes some notes, do couple of interviews, grab a results list, go have some cocktails (and sometimes get into trouble) and write the articles on the plane ride home. With social media, the articles and photos and newsletters and whatever else must be posted immediately – it is rush rush rush – you work late every evening, fall into bed, get up at 5 to do it all over again. Olympics = lots of work.
Of course, now that I am leaving, some of the conditions are improving. The food at the mess hall last night was actually pretty good; there were lovely big oranges at breakfast this morning (I have not seen an orange since my first day here), and even watermelon slices! There was milk for the coffee at the media tent as well. Figures.
Adeus, Rio de Janeiro: it’s been …. different.
