Games of The XXVII Olympiad

Sydney (AUS), 15 September – 1 October 2000

For the 27^th edition of the Olympic Games, Sydney went to great lengths to ensure that all ran in the smoothest and most agreeable of fashions and their success went a long way in reinstating the faith in the Olympic movement. Indeed, they are hailed as the greatest games to date, including the equestrian events at Horsley Park.

Forty four years following Melbourne 1956 when no horses would be allowed into Australia, the Australian quarantine and inspection services of the Agricultural Ministry proved to be much more accommodating. The conditions were tough: two weeks of pre-shipping quarantine in Europe and, after arrival in Sydney, two more weeks of quarantine on site. Most Europeans went into quarantine on 7 or 8 August. They left on 23 August from Frankfurt Airport and landed, after a 30-hour flight, on 25 August in Sydney. There they stayed in quarantine until 9 September, one week before the first competition on 16 September.  

Construction of the new equestrian complex, Horsley Park, started in November 1997 and ended in September 1999. The costs were 37 million AUS$, plus an additional 8 million for the parkland around. The site was very logically laid out and beautifully constructed with 17 training areas, one indoor arena, an open-air stadium with 20,000 seats – and land for the cross country and endurance test. Some fo the drawbacks were said to the footing, and the black coloured surface which detracted from the beauty of the obstacles and the decorations.

Of the 121 horses in the Jumping and Dressage, 50 were German-bred, 17 came from the Netherlands, 10 from France, eight from Sweden, six from Denmark and four from Belgium. Six were thoroughbreds. Of the 82 Eventing horses, no fewer than 42 were thoroughbreds, 11 were French (Selle Français or Anglo Arab), 15 were Irish and four came from Germany. Of the 15 medal-winning horses, 12 were thoroughbreds and the other three were 7/8 thoroughbreds.

Key Figures (general):

• ·                 199 nations
• 10,651 athletes (4,069 women; 6,582 men)
• 28 sports
• 46,967 volunteers
• 16,033 media (5,298 written press; 10,735 broadcasters)

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), an independent body, was at the Games to monitor all the procedures followed by the International Olympic Committee.

Key figures (equestrian)

• ·                38 nations (Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bermuda, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, India, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordon, Mexico, Netherland, Netherland Antilles, New Zealand, Philippines, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Uruguay, USA, Virgin Islands)
• ·                194 entries (75 in Jumping; 49 in Dressage; 74 in Eventing)

Two of the greatest names in show jumping were met with unlikely results in Sydney. Both Ludger Beerbaum and Rodrigo Pessoa had uncharacteristic performances. For Ludger Beerbaum and Goldfever it came in the form of two bad rounds in the team competition, although this did not rock the solid German team and he was still rewarded with team gold. While for Rodrigo Pessoa, after contributing three clear rounds to Brazil’s bronze medal in the team competition and also going clear in round A of the individual final, he was eliminated with Baloubet du Rouet after refusals in round B.

The Jumping programme at Sydney remained unchanged from Atlanta 1996. There was a first individual qualification, followed by the team competition which also served as second and third qualification towards the individual final. This took place on the closing day. Leopoldo Palacios was the Course Designer – he provided beautiful obstacles with Australian motifs.

In the team competition, Germany and Switzerland won gold and silver respectively. France and Brazil tied for third with 24 points each. In the jump-off Brazil had three clears and won its second team bronze medal following 1996. Forty-five riders qualified for the individual final, of whom 31 were allowed in round B.

In round A, four went clear including Jeroen Dubbeldam and Khaled Al Eid, who later earned gold and bronze respectively. This was the first equestrian medal ever for Saudi Arabia.

DRESSAGE (49 riders from 18 nations)

The year 2000 was the final show-down of the two dressage horses who had dominated the sport since the early nineties – and at the same time we saw their battle against the two horses who would take over the world reign in the coming years. After seven gold medals in eight years the 17-year-old Gigolo ridden by 31-year-old Isabell Werth, was for the first time beaten by the 17-year-old Bonfire the mount of the 32-year-old Anky van Grunsven. In third and fourth places came Rusty and Farbenfroh, who went on to win the next three FEI Championships: Rusty the European titles in 2001 and 2003, Farbenfroh the World title in 2002.

EVENTING (74 riders from 21 nations)

As in 1996 there were two Eventing competitions in Sydney 2000, first one for team honours, then one for the individual medals. A team, whose first two riders were eliminated during endurance day could retire its third and fourth riders before the start of the steeplechase and re-enter them for the individual competition with the same horses. Three rider/horse combinations thus came to have double starts: Italians Verdina and Magni and the Frenchman Jean-Lou Bigot, who finished 15^th, 5^th and 12^th respectively.

The dressage test had changed since 1998, and now included flying changes. The jumping course, built by Leopoldo Palacios, measured 590m and allowed for 95 seconds, but there were many time-faults. There were 13 obstacles with 16 jumping efforts up to 1.20m – the oxers up to 1.40m wide.

Australia, for the third time in a row, won the team gold medal, Andrew Hoy with Kiwi (1992) and Darien Powers (1996 + 2000) being a member each time. The Australians were already in the lead after the dressage, ahead of Great Britain and the USA. On endurance day, all four Australians went clear over the obstacles, two without time faults. Great Britain remained second, ahead of New Zealand.

However, at the veterinary inspection before the final jumping phase, Ready Teddy, the mount of Blyth Tait, the reigning World champion, was eliminated and with him the New Zealand team. This meant that the USA moved up to the bronze medal position. The best individual score was produced by Stuart Tinney on Jeepster with 41.00m ahead of Ingrid Klimke on Sleep Late with 41.20 points.

Thirty-eight riders from 21 nations took part in the individual competition. The cross-country course, designed by Michael Etherington-Smith, had only 29 obstacles. After the dressage, the ultimate winner, David O’Connor on Custom Made, was already in the lead. A clear round on the endurance phase kept him there and on day three not even a knock-down could change the outcome. Two other eventing greats, Andrew Hoy and Mark Todd, took the other medals. The first-ever Greek equestrian competitor, Heidi Antikazidis was, with Michaelmas, second after endurance; 13 penalties in the jumping dropped them to 6^th. There were two serious falls: both ending with hospital for the rider, and one resulted in the death of the horse.

To find out more about the equestrian events includes ,  to see the medallists and full results of 2000 Olympic Games. click here.

The medallists and full results can be found here.