After the great success of the inaugural edition in Singapore, the challenge was massive. The objective, beyond the competition, was to instill in the youngest athletes the values of the Olympic movement.
On this occasion, Golf and Rugby 7 joined the 26 sports present at Singapore 2010, increasing the number of athletes to 3,579. Among them were the 30 representatives of equestrian sport (15 boys and 15 girls).
Of all the nations participating in the equestrian competitions, 16 were competing for the first time, more than half, while 14 of the countries repeated the experience from four years earlier in Singapore. The Nanjing Exhibition Center welcomed the 30 athletes and their borrowed horses.
For the second time in a row, Team Europe (ITA, IRL, GBR, SWE, NED) claimed the gold with an outstanding performance. At the same time, the winner in the Individual contest was the athlete Emily Fraser from New Zealand, riding Exilio. The Argentinian Martina Campi became the first equestrian athlete to get two medals –both silver- in the same edition of the Youth Olympic Games.
China led the medal table, as they did in Singapore in 2010, bringing home 65 medals, 14 more than in the previous edition. Russia and the United States of America followed the Chinese team in the table, with 57 and 22 medals.
In the closing ceremony, IOC President, Thomas Bach, congratulated all the participants and made it clear that success lies beyond medals: “Only some of these young athletes can return home with a medal. But all of you can return home knowing that you did your very best. This is why you all can be happy. This is why we all are so proud of you. So take this spirit of the Nanjing Summer Youth Olympic Games home.” A true inspiration for the younger generations.
Following the success of the Singapore Youth Olympic Games in 2010, all 30 athletes who came to Nanjing were aware of the significant level of competition in order to take home the gold. The whole world looked to Nanjing to watch the best young athletes, compete on borrowed horses for their chance at gold glory.
Team Europe wanted to follow in the footsteps of the European Team that won gold in Singapore. Cenai Matias Alvaro (ITA) and Montelini, Michael Duffy (IRL) and Commander, Filip Agren (SWE) and Abel, Jake Saywell (GBR) and Galaxy and Lisa Nooron (NDL) and For The Sun, did it in the best way possible: a final score of zero penalties! Silver went to South America (URU, CHI, PAR, ARG, BRA) with four penalties and bronze to North America (aka Guty’s Angels – CAY, ECU, ESA, GUA, DOM) with eight penalties.
New Zealand’s Emily Fraser won the Youth Olympic Games Individual gold medal riding Exilio following a four-way jump-off which she managed with great precision and was faster than any of her three rivals: Argentina’s Martina Campi, who also achieved a clear round but was .20 of a second behind, slotted into second place; Australia’s Jake Hunter, had a one pole down finishing with four penalties in third place; and El Salvador’s Sabrina Rivera Meza just missing out on a medal with eight penalties.
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