That said there was great optimism during the years running up to the event: the Games had been awarded to the Spanish city in 1997, so there was plenty of time to work up enthusiasm.
It is likely however that another disaster would definitely have put an end to the event and the outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease in Europe in 2001 did nothing to boost confidence in its survival. However, the equestrian community breathed a sigh of relief when sufficient financial backing and thorough organisation led to a very successful edition. Jerez 2002 kicked off in style and was afterwards hailed a great success, proving that point that, when well organised, they are truly the crown of the FEI Championships.
The organisers of Jerez had established a working committee that benefited from the support of the four levels of local and national government, greatly increasing the cohesion and ease with which the event ran. Several measures were put in place to increase funding, including a tombola, and the budget was divided in a clear way, separating infrastructure costs, preparation costs and running costs, thus making it easier to allocate funds and keep up with costs. Nevertheless, the fact that they were so well-organised also meant that costs were higher than they might have otherwise been as there was a year or two between the venue being ready and the Games taking place.
For the first time, the FEI World Equestrian Games™ included seven disciplines with Reining making a strong first appearance. The great spectator attendance and the attention from the media brought considerable benefits to the host city as well as the whole province. Moreover, Andalusia, the Spanish province where Jerez is located, is true horse country, enjoying a rich equestrian tradition going back centuries. Jerez is the city of the Real Escuela Andaluza del Arte Equestre (Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art), a major ambassador for the area.
In sporting terms, the event was simply excellent. Three different venues hosted the different events, including the local football stadium for Jumping and Dressage and a covered arena for the Vaulting and Reining.
Ireland's Dermott Lennon took the world by surprise when the quiet farmer's son claimed the individual FEI World Championship title in Jerez. It was a watershed moment for the 33-year-old and for his country because no Irish rider had ever done it before, and it was the second time for Lennon to play his part in Irish Jumping history having also been a member of the side that claimed Ireland’s first-ever European team title, at Arnhem (NED), the previous year. On both occasions he was partnering the brilliant mare Liscalgot, but for the winning team from France it was all about four amazing French-bred stallions. Eric Levallois with Diamant de Semilly Ecolit, Reynald Angot with Tlaloc M, Gilles Bertran de Balanda with Crocus Graverie and Eric Navet with Dollar du Murier produced stunning performances to pin Sweden into silver while Belgium took team bronze.
Navet added two more World Championship medals to the four already sitting in his trophy cabinet when also taking individual silver, while Sweden's Helena Lundback became only the second woman, following in the footsteps of Gail Greenough (Aachen, 1986), to earn a place in the change-horse final with her little mare Mynta.
Mares were to the fore again with Liscalgot and Mynta joined by American rider Peter Wylde's Fein Cera, Navet's stallion Dollar du Murier the exception to the rule on this occasion. The ability to adapt to the idiosyncrasies of an unknown horse, or at least not interfere with it, has always been key to the success in the final-four World Championships clash, and Lennon was the only one to keep a clean sheet to clinch the individual title. Liscalgot hit one fence each with Navet and Wylde on board but dashed Lundback’s chances when leaving three on the floor so it was Wylde who took the bronze.
Sixty-five riders competed in the fourth FEI World Equestrian Games for the 10th FEI World Dressage title, and there was little surprise when Germany claimed team gold while the USA filled silver medal spot for the first time. But in a very new development in the sport, the Spanish, who had shown such promise in Rome four years earlier, won the bronze. And, fuelling the fire of change, Spain’s Beatriz Ferrer-Salat also claimed individual silver.
It was Germany’s Nadine Capellmann and Farbenfroh who took home the individual gold. They posted the top score in the Grand Prix to help team-mates Ulla Salzgeber (Rusty), Klaus Husenbeth (Piccolino) and Ann-Kathrin Linsenhoff (Renoir) secure their country’s ninth world team title and maintained their authority to the very end. However Ferrer-Salat and her 15-year-old Hannoverian, Beauvalais finished a close second when the final points were calculated. The Spanish athlete’s sympathetic riding style and harmony with her horse were a major talking point but her Freestyle had too many mistakes. Individual bronze went to Freestyle winner Germany’s Salzgeber.
These Games marked a turning tide in this sport, the old order beginning to be challenged as the door to a much more dynamic future began to open.
The USA took team gold ahead of France in silver while Great Britain claimed bronze in Jerez. It was a long time coming for the Americans who had to look all the way back to Burghley (GBR) in 1974 for their previous FEI World Team Championship success. In the end however only six of the 13 participating nations finished and only two completed with full teams, the winners and the bronze medallists from Great Britain, while, led by individual gold medallist Jean Teulere and the brilliant Espoir de la Mare, the French claimed silver.
Multiple world champion Blyth Tait from New Zealand went out of contention with a fall at the second water complex on Mike Tucker’s cross-country course located in Garrapilos, about 30 minutes from the town of Jerez. There were 22 falls on the day, but it was a refusal at the 28th fence that put paid to the chances of Dressage leader, Germany’s Bettina Hoy, whose stunning score of 20.8 with Woodsides Ashby set a new record in this phase. The German team was lying third as the cross-country action began, behind Great Britain in second and the Americans out in front, and despite a fall for Amy Tryon (Poggio) at fence 14 the US team maintained their advantage going into the final Jumping phase. But by then their nearest rivals were the Australians, stalked by the French.
America’s David O’Connor and Giltedge produced one of only five clear Jumping rounds but Kimberly Vinoski’s Winsome Adante, who had put in a crucially important and brilliant cross-country run, left three rails on the floor. US team-member John Williams and Carrick had individual gold in their sights as they set off, last to go. But 16 faults dropped them to individual fourth behind the lone Finnish contender, Pia Pantsu (Ypaja Karuso) while Individual silver went to Great Britain’s Jeanette Brakewell (Over to You). Frenchman Teulere stood top of the podium. A team-member for two decades, he had finished fourth at the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996 but his moment of individual glory had at last arrived.
The new American champions finished with a 17-penalty edge over the French in silver and a 23.6 penalty point advantage over the British in bronze.
The Netherlands’ Ijsbrand Chardon became the first driver in the history of the sport to claim a third individual world title when leading from start to finish, and he was also key to securing his country’s fifth team title. The USA claimed its first four-in-hand team medals when seizing the silver while Germany picked up team bronze. For Germany’s Christoph Sandmann, Spain’s FEI World Equestrian Games™ provided him with his first individual medal in 12 years of trying, and it was a silver one, while 2000 World Champion, Tomas Eriksson from Sweden, had to settle for individual bronze.
The Americans took the early lead when Jimmy Fairclough posted the drop score after both Chester Weber and Tucker Johnson posted an identical 39.36. The formidable Dutch lay second, just a single point behind going into Marathon day, while Germany was in third, Belgium in fourth and Sweden in fifth place at this stage. There was plenty of drama on the Marathon course, and the Dutch overtook the USA while Germany maintained third spot and this was how it stayed after the final Cones phase.
Less than three seconds separated Chardon from Sandmann and Eriksson going into the final Cones trial, with Sandmann only 1.27 off the lead and Eriksson 1.37 behind. When Eriksson knocked a ball it eased the pressure slightly for Sandmann who then only had to get around without a mistake to take his medal. He could afford to risk the half time fault he earned in doing so. With all the cool confidence of his many years of experience, Chardon won his third world title with a perfect round. For the 41-year-old riding school proprietor, it was worth waiting a decade to make history.
Among the newcomers at these World Championships were Stefan Kläy of Switzerland who finished 13th and Wolf von Buchholtz of Argentina who lined up in 31st. Lady drivers are a relative rarity in this sport, but in addition to Karen Basset of Great Britain there was also a female driver from Spain, Teresa Garcia Moreno, who finished in 40th place.
Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Al Maktoum made history when he became the youngest rider to win the Endurance title at the age of just 16. He also brought to an end the series of female champions who dominated the top step of the podium since 1990. Son of UAE team captain Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Sheikh Ahmed rode the 13-year-old Australian bred Anglo Arab, Bowman, to victory ahead of Italy’s Antonio Rossi who, at 54 years of age was almost 40 years older than the new young champion. Bronze went to Sunny Demedy from France who also took the Best Condition award with Fifi du Bagnas.
Bidding to retain her world title, America’s Valerie Kanavy went out of contention with Shadon in the early stages. The French emerged as worthy winners of the team title, Emmanuel Bellefroid (Antinea) and Jean-Philippe Francs (Djellab HN) joining Demedy to reign supreme over Italy in silver and Australia in bronze.
As expected, Team USA dominated the first-ever World Reining Championships, but the defeat of superstar Tom McCutcheon by team-mate Shawn Flarida in the battle for the individual title was a surprise. McCutcheon had been untouchable in the lead-up to Jerez, but a mistake with Conquistador Whiz saw him having to go into a tie-breaking ride-off against Canada’s Shawna Saperiga on Pretty Much Eagle to take the silver. Flarida’s brilliant score of 221.5 with San Jo Freckles secured the top step of the podium in the field of 49 starters from 11 countries.
A total of nine nations battled for the Team medals and the American side that included brothers Tom and Scott McCutcheon (Inwhizable), Craig Schmersal (Tidal Wave Jack) and Flarida pinned Canada’s Sapergia, Francois Gauthier (Ghost Buster Baby), Jason Grimshaw (Listo Pollito Lena) and Patrice St-Onge (Slip Me Another Kiss) into silver while Italy claimed the bronze.
The sport itself was a big winner with the crowds of noisy spectators who packed the Chapin lll indoor arena on the final day, enjoying every moment of the razzmatazz, hootin’ and hollerin’ that traditionally accompanies the “run down”, “roll back” and “sliding stop” manoeuvres performed by the world’s top partnerships. Reining was definitely here to stay.
Chapin lll, a newly-built sports complex, was the venue for the Vaulting championships in which Germany claimed its fifth squad title. And it was no surprise when 25-year-old Nadia Zulow repeated the success she had enjoyed in Rome four years earlier to take the individual female crown. Only French vaulter, Matthias Lang, prevented a complete German whitewash of gold when taking the mens title. With the nine-year-old horse Farceur Breceen, a Selle Francais owned by the French National Stud and lunged with great precision by Marina Dupon-Joosten he won by a significant margin over silver medallist Gero Meyer from Germany and the 1998 world champion, Devon Maitozo from the USA, who this time earned bronze.
Denmark’s Rikke Laumann put in an outstanding performance for silver in the female championship in which Germany’s Ines Jückstock claimed the bronze but Zülow was untouchable for her second title in a row.
Germany’s firm grip on the sport was very evident in the squad event in which the vaulters of the Mainz-Laubenheim riding club performed with extraordinary gymnastic and athletic ability. They made no mistakes and that was what separated them from the silver medallists from Switzerland who had a slip in the final. Team Sweden was awarded the bronze.
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