Disappointing Team Day 1 at Rio for the Brits but Three through as Individuals

Tuesday 16 August 2016

Things just didn’t go to plan for the British Jumping team at the Rio Olympic Games this afternoon with Team GB finishing in 12th place on 13 penalties. 

Only eight teams go through to the second round which takes place at 2pm BST tomorrow which sadly means GB no longer have the opportunity to defend their Team Gold medal won four years ago in London.

Nick Skelton with Big Star, owned by Beverley Widdowson, left all fences intact and looked to be in fighting form; however a disputed touch of the tape at the Open Water saw them come through the finish line on a 4 penalty score.  An appeal in respect of the penalties awarded has been raised and as yet, no further information has been received on this.

Ben Maher and Tic Tac, owned by Jane Forbes-Clark, looked extremely solid and it was a very unfortunate roll of a back pole at an oxer that saw it fall from the cups and see them accrue 4 penalties. The time allowed most definitely played a major factor in the competition with many combinations picking up time penalties, a fate which was incurred by Michael Whitaker and Beverley Widdowson’s stallion Cassionato.   Giving all the fences a lot of height, they finished just outside the time allowed to gain a time penalty in addition to 4 penalties gathered at the Open Water when Cassionato’s off-fore just fell short of the distance required.

 For John Whitaker and Team Harmony’s  bay mare Ornellaia it would be safe to say it just wasn’t their day. Having jumped the only clear of the four Brits in the first Individual competition on Sunday, it was a totally different picture this afternoon when a stop at the combination obviously unsettled this super talented mare to where a number of fences were then lowered outside the time allowed to give them a finish score of 23 penalties.

What this means for Great Britain is that we are now out of the running for continuing in the Team competition however Nick Skelton, Ben Maher and Michael Whitaker all progress as Individuals by finishing high enough up the rankings.  Nick Skelton currently sits with 8 penalties pending his appeal, having picked up 4 penalties on Day 1.  Ben Maher also sits on 8 penalties having had a fence on the first day alongside today's 4 penalties whilst Michael sits on 9 penalties having accrued 4 penalties on Day 1 and 5 penalties today.

Competing as individuals they will be one of the first group of riders to jump tomorrow which is also Day 2 of the Team competition when Team medals will be decided.  The strong contenders for the Team medals are Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands and USA all of whom are on zero penalties with France just 1 penalty behind them having picked up a time penalty.  The other nations joining them are Canada, Switzerland and Sweden.

Tomorrow’s competition starts at 2pm BST and will be broadcast on the BBC Red Button as well as being available on the BBC Website via their Sport page.

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