But I am a cheese eater
Sorry folks, but if you are one of the people who posted comments yesterday who think I should put on rose tinted glasses, you aren’t going to get any joy from me today. I am not here to tell you something is good when it isn’t – whether it’s Canada’s results, a traffic jam, or a lousy hot dog. I am not going to filter my comments for Bromont’s sake, and I am not on the Bromont payroll to be a fact gatherer for the purpose of briefing the Bromont committee on the do’s and don’ts learned in Normandy (though I AM most likely going to write an article in the next couple of months in Horse Sport that the Bromont people might find informative). I wish Bromont well, but I am not responsible for their sinking or swimming. When Bromont does come along in four years, I will be as honest with my impressions of how good a job they’ve done as I have been at every single international event I’ve attended over the past 12 years.
I’m a journalist and a blogger, and I do not owe anyone a sugar coated story that doesn’t represent the facts (journalism) or my personal experiences (blogging). No apologies. And I’m also not going to dignify Tara’s ridiculous comment with a response.
Now that I’ve got that off my chest, let’s move onto today. Not only was the sport more exciting and more concise, it was of course also a much more World Championship level display of athletic competence on the part of the distilled field of 57 riders. I’m afraid it wasn’t Canada’s day, though. We knew they had to have better than just an okay day today, and it didn’t happen.
I won’t bore you with a blow by blow, especially as some of you are loyal fans of our riders and if you want to know the scores you can find them on line anyway. The riders certainly deserve Canada’s support through what was not our best result in recent years. No one would ever dispute that Eric, Ian, Tiffany and Yann are world class riders on world class horses. But I’m not going to say oh rah-rah they were awesome when they weren’t. We were eighth. We didn’t get a Rio spot. Canada goes away from Normandy with not one team berth for Rio in Dressage, Eventing or Show Jumping. The one silver lining for us going into Toronto 2015 – at least in show jumping – is that with the US winning bronze today and Brazil being the host country for the next Olympics, the road is wide open for us to grab an Olympic spot at the Pan Am Games.
I think the most awesome part of today was enjoying the French crowd losing its collective mind over what were absolutely the finest performances of the day from the French team. If the medals were handed out for today alone, the French would have won gold. And to the French fans, it was as good as gold. It was France’s only WEG team medal in the Olympic disciplines, and the fact that they rose from fourth after yesterday to second today was a wonderful reward for the home crowd. I don’t know if it was the special acoustics of a soccer stadium, but the cheers were deafening after each French rider completed. And kudos to the French riders, who had the weight of their country upon them, and a crowd that just couldn’t resist gasping with every fence, reminding them of that pressure every step of the way.
Going into Saturday’s individual final, we have just one rider moving forward, and that’s our very own Flying Frenchman. I will be cheering and crossing fingers and toes for Yann and Showgirl on Saturday. Good on them, and good on everyone who has helped them get here.
Canada’s best, Yann and Showgirl, just one rail over three rounds!
