One Down, Two To Go

Not the best day for the Eventers. Some rotten, unfair, and loud feedback over the loudspeaker interrupted Colleen Loach and Qorry Blue D’Argouges as they were starting out on their test – not once, but twice. The unexpected blast scared Qorry who scooted forward during the collected trot which subsequently earned a score of 4, 3 and 2 from the three judges for the movement. The rest of the test was uneventful, earning scores of mostly 6.5 and 7s to finished with a score of 56.60pp.

Canada’s newest eventing Olympian was understandably disappointed, “It was really unfortunate. He felt so good coming in, relaxed and really clued in to me and then [that] blew a whole movement. I just told myself to put it behind me and think about the next movements. He was good the rest of the test, but I think he didn’t have quite the presence he may have had without the mishap.”

Rebecca Howard and Riddle Master  didn’t have any surprises during her test, which was conservative. There were a couple of weak points, however, which resulted in lower score than she was likely hoping for. “I was basically very happy with him,” she said. “He stayed quite rideable in there and with good relaxation relative to some other tests he’s done. That’s the big key with him ‒ to keep him relaxed and loose. He’s a horse that has a ton of quality in the way that he goes. There were a few moments I felt like I didn’t show him off quite as well; he got a little bit wiggly in the trot work, and in the canter we lost a bit of rhythm in a couple of the changes, but basically he was a good boy.”

As Jessica noted after her round, however, this will not be a dressage show. Every rider has commented on how technical tomorrow’s cross-country course will be. Designed by Pierre Michelet of France who also built the cross-country course for the 2014 World Equestrian Games in Normandy, tomorrow’s results are sure to change the leaderboard significantly. “I the want the best to win without asking too big questions to the less experienced riders. The reputation of the sport is important,” he said. “I want to challenge the riders and I ask to find clever solutions for the many options on offer. To get on the podium they need to be brave, accurate and bold.”

“That is the biggest Olympic course I have ever walked – and I have seen some,” was individual leader William Fox-Pitt’s comment.

Aussie Christopher Barton, who maintained his second place standing, also commented on the difficulty. “It is a really tough, technical four star, more difficult than what we were expecting. I don’t think at London you would have got that answer out of me really, this is much much more like a tough old Olympic track. The designer has done a great job.” He further explained that the difficulty came from technical questions that required skilled riding. “Really, really technical, technical and big, and lines we’ve never seen before, it’s an incredible job he has done, there’s going to be an exciting result on cross country day, well done Pierre Michelet, super.

Canada will be looking to Rebecca Howard and Riddle Master, who have the most 4* experience together. They were also part of the 2012 team in London, but they were eliminated for a fall on course. Since then, however, they have competed at Badminton, Pau, Luhmuhlen, and Burghley… some solid experience for our team.

Kathryn has competed in four 4* events, the most recent was Badminton this past May where she completed cross-country clear but with 53 time penalties. She did go on to finish 9th at the CIC3* in Luhmuhlen with just 13.2 time penalties.

Jessica has tons of experience at the 4* level, but none with A Little Romance. It’s worth noting, however, that the FEI does not require 4* experience. To qualify for the Olympics, riders must have one qualifying result at a CCI 4*, or one from a CCI 3* AND one from a CIC 3*.

Colleen in the newbie of the group, making her 4* debut at the Olympics. She completed her first CIC3*s last year and her last outing was at The Plains, where she finished in 14th on a score of 57.1 with no jumping faults and just 3.6 time penalties over cross-country.

I wrote this in the stands after the competition while the volunteers conducted a full rehearsal of the medal ceremonies. SPOILER ALERT: Brazil wins gold.

In other news, there were no more stray bullets today but we did hear several volleys of gunfire in the distance. The favelas surround this area and one colleague told me that the exchanges are the efforts of the police trying to keep the gangs in check during our stay. These exchanges were likely also happening yesterday so the bullet that ended up in our tent could well have been from that. No official response as yet about what really happened. One Swedish media outlet sent their youngest staffer home to her 8 month-old baby as they said they said they wouldn’t be able to live with themselves if anything happened to her.

UPDATE: There was a press conference that wasn’t really well publicized – I can’t imagine why – to give an update on yesterday’s bullet. Officials report that folks in the favela’s were trying to shoot at the blimp and drones being used by TV to get the fancy overheat shots. Since the drones and blimps are in fact being used for the Olympics, that would make this an attack targeted at the Games, which is the exact opposite of what Mario told us yesterday. Like a seasoned politician, he avoided answering any questions about that particular discrepancy.

You can see some housing from the cross-country course and the direct line-of-sight is somewhat worrying so fingers crossed that those residents are friendlies and everyone gets home safely.

ANOTHER UPDATE: I’ve been told that the buildings we see from the course are, in fact, favelas…. with a direct line-of-site to the cross country course… and if we didn’t before, now we know they have long-range guns… Between stray bullets and gunfire exchange, I believe that Brazil has seriously downplayed the danger they are putting everyone in. Further, I’m not the only one that feels guilty because our presence is visiting further hardship on the desperately poor people in the favela’s. I believe in the Olympic ideals and I seriously love watching the competitions, but the collateral damage can not be ignored and tarnishes the movement well beyond worth.

Seriously, I just typed those last words and another major volley of gunfire went off. Sure it’s probably a few kilometers away, but it’s a little too close to this Canadian who is not used to such ambient noise. This is INSANE.