Equestrian at the Olympics: 1992

The incredible political changes of the late 1980s reached the sports field in 1992 as the Barcelona Olympics welcomed a reunified Germany and post-apartheid South Africa.

South African athletes returned after a 32-year absence following the end of the apartheid regime and release of Nelson Mandela. David Rissik participated in Eventing, and finished a creditable 30^th, while Gonda Betrix and Peter Gotz took part in Jumping.

The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and German reunification the following year meant the strengthening of a nation already so mighty in equestrian sports.

But while the Germans were again the most successful country in equestrian in 1992, a fascinating battle between southern hemisphere rivals Australia and New Zealand in Eventing was perhaps the equestrian highlight of the Barcelona Games.

Let's look back at the highlights of 1992...

 1992: The Sporting World Reunified 

It was the battle of the ANZACs in Eventing as Australia and New Zealand fought it out at the top of the leaderboard in thrilling Team and Individual competitions.

Ultimately Australia matched its glorious feat of 1960 by claiming Team and Individual gold. 32 years previously it had been Laurie Morgan who achieved the double, with Matt Ryan doing the same in Barcelona.

It had started so well for the Europeans, with Germany’s Matthias Baumann leading the way after Dressage, and the British trio of Ian Stark, Karen Straker-Dixon and Mary Thomson-King in pursuit.

Mark Todd, the gold medallist in the previous two Games and now on Welton Greylag, was ominously close to the top in fifth.

However, the New Zealander’s dreams of an unprecedented third straight Individual win were ended in the second phase when Welton Greylag strained a ligament in the endurance section and subsequently had to withdraw.

While his teammates Andrew Nicholson, Vicky Latta and Blyth Tait – the 1990 FEI World Equestrian Games winner – put New Zealand into the lead after the second phase, Australia’s Matt Ryan and Kibah Tic Toc produced a stunning round to take control with just Jumping to go.

Ryan did enough to secure Individual gold, with Germany’s Herbert Blöcker in second. Tait and Messiah, who had been only 69th after dressage, clinched Individual bronze finishing on a clear Jumping round.

Big performances from Ryan, Andrew Hoy, Gillian Rolton and David Green helped Australia to Team gold too. They were assisted a little by a poor round from Nicholson, which saw New Zealand drop into second place while Germany was third.

As in Seoul, Germany ended the 1992 Olympics with two golds in Dressage and a single Jumping gold.

Nicole Uphoff-Selke became the first athlete since the 1950s to defend their Individual Dressage title, and victories in both the Team and Individual competitions gave her back-to-back golden doubles.

Germany’s dominance was illustrated by their taking a 1-2-3 in the Individual competition, with a thrilling battle for gold being fought out between compatriots Uphoff-Selke on Rembrandt and Isabell Werth on Gigolo. The rivals had dazzled the Dressage world for the previous 12 months, with Gigolo claiming the European title in 1991 and Rembrandt winning in Aachen just a few weeks before Barcelona.

However, Uphoff-Selke and Rembrandt used their experience to claim the title, with Werth and Gigolo in second. Klaus Balkenhol was third on Goldstern ahead of future winners Anky van Grunsven and Bonfire

In the Team event, the top four finishers were German, with Monica Theodorescu also competing. They finished 482 points clear of silver medallists the Netherlands and the US in bronze.