Germany’s Dorothee Schneider, Isabell Werth, and Jessica von Bredow-Werndl celebrating Dressage team gold. (FEI/Shannon Brinkman)

Victory for Germany in the Dressage team event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games will go down in the history books. For the last 27 years the country that has long been the cradle of classical horsemanship has been all but unbeatable at this level of the sport, and despite the disruption and confusion of the last 18 months right across the globe they reigned supreme once again ahead of Team USA in silver and Great Britain in bronze.

There were mixed reviews for the new team format which separates athletes into groups and reduces team numbers to three, with all scores to count. But there was no denying the increased intensity and excitement it created in this deciding Grand Prix Special. While the Germans came out clear champions, the battle for silver and bronze was a thriller to the very end.

And a new star was born. Germany’s Jessica von Bredow-Werndl stole the show with the new Olympic Grand Prix Special score of 84.666 with the mare Dalera, and team-mate Isabell Werth posted 83.298 with a beautiful performance from her beloved Bella Rose after Dorothee Schneider and Showtime set out the German stall when putting 80.086 on the board. However, a relatively unknown American produced the third-best score of that decided the fate of the team medals. Sabine Schut-Kery and Sancero have rocketed onto the world stage.

Set for silver

Great Britain looked set for silver in the early stages after Carl Hester and En Vogue posted 78.344, while it seemed Denmark and the USA were locked into a game of cat-and-mouse for the bronze. But the Americans couldn’t have been more rock solid, Adrienne Lyle’s 76.109 with Salvino giving them a firm basis on which to build before Steffen Peters and Sussenkasper backed that up with 77.766.

Cathrine Dufour and Bohemian were the last pair to go for Denmark, but 77.720 wouldn’t be enough to keep her country in the race, especially when America’s Schut-Kery followed with an incredible 81.596. That just knocked the Danes right out of contention and suddenly the British were under threat for their silver medal spot too. It would take a big score from Charlotte Dujardin and Gio to keep Britain out in front after Lottie Fry’s 76.894 with Everdale.

And although Dujardin’s inexperienced chestnut gelding did his best, his 79.544 just wouldn’t be enough.

Meanwhile, last to go von Bredow-Werndl strutted to a score of 84.666 to put the icing on the German cake. And that was despite a whoopsie in the one-tempis when her mare needed a toilet break. As von Bredow-Werndl said afterwards, it was just another day at the office for the lovely, talented Dalera. “It didn’t feel difficult actually; for her it all seems to be easy!”

Dominant

Werth was asked about her expectations coming to Tokyo in light of the long and dominant German record at Olympic Games. “We are long enough in this sport to know that one horse can make a difference, and one situation can make a difference, especially when you are only three on a team and you have no reserve. We came with a lot of self-confidence because we knew if we bring our performance in the arena like we can then it would be really hard to beat us, but you never know. One bad day or a sick horse or after such a long trip everything is possible,” she replied.

That’s one more gold medal for the German superwoman who, as former Eventing star/turned commentator Lucinda Green pointed out on Sunday night, is wearing riding boots that been around a while and seen a lot of action.

“I’ve had them since 1991 and I’ve worn them at every Championship since then – they are my lucky boots!” the German superstar admitted. That’s 30 years of service, with many golden moments along the way, and Lady Luckyboots may well be about to make more history.

This brought her Olympic gold medal tally to seven, and if Werth can add one more in the much-anticipated Freestyle for the Individual title, then she will match the German record set by rower Birgit Fischer, who has won 8 gold and 4 silver Olympic medals during her sparkling career.

Facts and Figures:

Germany first won team gold at the Olympic Games in Amsterdam (NED) in 1928, with a three-man team of Carl Freiherr von Langen (Draufganger), Hermann Linkenbach (Gimpel), and Eugen Freiherr von Lotzbeck (Caracalla).

Germany were the defending champions coming to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and two of the winning team members were in the side that reigned supreme at the Rio 2016 Games -. Dorothee Schneider riding the same horse, and Showtime and Isabell Werth riding her other great mare Weihegold.

Quotes:

Isabell Werth (GER) – “I expected higher scores, but it is like it is. She (Bella Rose) was more tense on the first day, already in good shape but more tense and I had to deal a bit with her temperament. That’s on one hand her advantage; she’s 17 but also you could say she is 12. She wants to go and sometimes her temperament needs time to cope with the situation and the atmosphere. Today she was so relaxed and super.

I love this horse and I hope she loves me too. She is a gift!”

Charlotte Dujardin (GBR) – ‘I went in there to do best I could and I’m absolutely thrilled with Pumpkin (Gio), because that’s the second time he’s gone through that Grand Prix Special; we’ve had very little shows to compete in this year; he is only 10 years old and with not a lot of experience at all and the last few days he’s really tried his heart out, and I can’t really ask for more than that. This might look like bronze but for me and my horse it feels like a gold medal.”

Carl Hester (GBR) – “The feeling I had before we came here was that it was going to be a very different and very difficult Olympics and wasn’t going to be any fun, but it’s been an amazing experience…. Charlotte and I work together; the horses have brought up at home from an early age and we are excited about them. We’ll see how they travel back home and where we’ll go next. There’s a Europeans (Championship) in six weeks so we’ll see how they are when we get back and go from there.”

Steffen Peters (USA), after completing his test with Sussenkasper: “I’m more than delighted. I did exactly what I wanted for my team; it’s one thing to ride individually but when you pull a good score for your team it’s really special. I cried when I came out, gave Mopsie a big hug, and just thanked him from the bottom of my heart. He did it for me when it really counted. It’s an incredible feeling when an animal fights for you like that.”

Carl Hester (GBR), talking about his ride on En Vogue – “It was cool. He is very nervous and I’ve struggled with his nerves… if I ride him too forward, he’s too tense and if I don’t give enough, he makes a lot of mistakes. It’s the old cliché: he came here as a boy and he’s gone in there like a man tonight! He’s done everything I asked.”

Adrienne Lyle (USA), talking about her ride on Salvino – “I’m super-thrilled. I was really hoping we could pull that score off for the team today; we were a little conservative in the Grand Prix; it wasn’t our most great display so I really wanted to come out here and push for a bit more, and despite the heat and humidity he was a really good boy; he delivered – no mistakes which is what you want for the team test, and now it’s up to the other team-mates to go out there and be just as strong!

I’ve been riding him for six years; he’s the most amazing horse; we’ve been to a World Games, to a World Cup – we’ve been all around the world together and he always digs deep when he has to. He’s always got my back!”

Results here.

by Louise Parkes

Media contacts:

Grania Willis
Executive Advisor
grania.willis@fei.org
+41 78 750 61 42

Olivia Robinson
Director, Communications
olivia.robinson@fei.org
+41 78 750 61 35

Shannon Gibbons
Manager, Media Relations & Media Operations
shannon.gibbons@fei.org
+41 78 750 61 46+

Charlotte Dujardin and Gio. (FEI/Christophe Taniere)

Team Germany continued to build up a head of steam when moving to the top of the Dressage Grand Prix leaderboard at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Two great rides, from Dorothee Schneider with Showtime and the living legend that is Isabell Werth with Bella Rose, secured pole position at the end of the competition which decided the eight best nations that will go through to Tuesday’s medal-decider, the Grand Prix Special in which all teams start from scratch.

Joining the defending champions will be Great Britain, who finished second, followed by Denmark, USA, Netherlands, Sweden, Portugal, and Spain.

Meanwhile, the 18 individuals that have made the cut to Wednesday’s Individual medal decider are also confirmed. The two best from each of the six qualifying groups – Charlotte Fry and Charlotte Dujardin (GBR), Therese Nilshagen and Juliette Ramel (SWE), Cathrine Dufour and Carina Cassoe Kruth (DEN), Edward Gal (NED), Jessica von Bredow-Werndl, Dorothee Schneider and Isabell Werth (GER), Sabine Schut-Kery and Adrienne Lyle (USA) – are through. Also qualified are the six next-best individuals, Nanna Skodborg Merrald (DEN), Beatriz Ferrer-Salat (ESP), Hans Peter Minderhoud (NED), Carl Hester (GBR), Rodrigo Torees (POR), and Steffen Peters (USA).

Top two spots

Denmark’s Cassoe Kruth and America’s Lyle claimed the top two spots in Group D when the action resumed, and then Germany’s Schneider headed up Group E after a lovely test. Schneider said her horse was “a little bit tense but it’s normal for him on first day.” She’s had a late return to top competition for a range of reasons.

“Showtime competed at the European Championships in 2019 and then he was at home, because I wanted to keep him safe for the Olympic Games in 2020, and then there were no Games! I wanted to start early in 2021 but then I had an accident in April. But he’s an experienced horse and once he gets out to compete three or four times, he’s fine,” she said of the gelding who carried her to team gold at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and who she has ridden since he was a three-year-old.

A fall when a horse she was competing dropped dead during a prizegiving ceremony left her with a broken collarbone, “but it’s all good now!” she said. “It took a little time to come back and it wasn’t so easy mentally, but we are back now and I’m happy again,” she explained.

Solidity

Compatriot Werth headed up the final group of 10 horse-and-athlete combinations and, last to go, underpinned the solidity of the German challenge. With her beloved Bella Rose who scored 82.500 she pinned Great Britain’s Charlotte Dujardin and the charming little chestnut gelding Gio into second place in that group. However, both of these ladies look to have a lot more in store for the coming days. And Dujardin, whose reign of supremacy with the great Valegro changed a lot about the sport of Dressage in recent years, is clearly super-excited about her latest rising star. You could feel that rivalry between her and the evergreen queen, Werth, filling the air once again.

Talking about Gio, Dujardin said, “I was so happy; he’s a very green inexperienced horse, so it was a bit of the unknown what to expect. Hagen (Germany in April this year) is the biggest show he’s done and he delivered there. I couldn’t ask for any more today; he went in there and he tried his heart out. He’s just unbelievable; he keeps giving. I felt emotional on the last centreline because when you have a ride like that, win or lose, that’s what it’s all about for me.

“He’s like a little powerhouse: he’s small but definitely mighty;for where he is at his training, I know he can give even more and I’m so happy with him,” she said.

Rivalry

Werth clearly enjoys the renewed rivalry with her British counterpart because it feeds her competitive edge. “It’s always very important that you have strong field of competitors because then you push each other to top performances and that’s the spirit of competition,” she pointed out.

She described the 17-year-old Bella Rose as “my dream horse and when she’s in top shape she is the best – her way of moving, her character, her charisma, her piaffe/passage down the centreline – of course Weihe (her other mare Weihegold) is super and the younger ones too, but with Bella you have the feeling there is always something more possible!”

Talking about these “Games like no other” in Tokyo, the multiple Olympic champion said the lack of an audience could be influential. “Mostly you will see it in the medal decisions, especially in the Freestyle. There will be music but no crowd to carry the horses and riders – it makes a big difference – but on the other hand we are so happy that we can be here, can compete that we have an Olympic Games. We are in a discipline that is really depending on Games, because then we are more in the focus of the media and the world and it gives the younger riders at home the motivation and support, so it’s a big package we have, and we are very thankful to be here.”

Facts and Figures:

If Isabell Werth wins double-gold she will become the most decorated female German Olympic athlete of all times.

The IOC and FEI have given special permission to Irish athletes across all equestrian disciplines at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games to wear a yellow ribbon in memory of young rising star, Tiggy Hancock, who tragically suffered a fatal fall last month. Dressage rider Heike Holstein was the first to compete with hers. She said, “We are very proud to wear it, and grateful to the IOC and FEI for allowing us to do it.”

The judges awarded the maximum score of 10 on 14 occasions during the second half of the Grand Prix, which is the Team and Individual qualifying competition, and 13 of them were earned by Isabelle Werth’s Bella Rose (GER) – 7 for piaffe, 5 for passage/piaffe transitions, and one for halt. A single 10 was awarded to Charlotte Dujardin’s Gio (GBR) for two-tempi changes.

Quotes:

Christian Schumach (AUT) who scored 70.900 with Te Quiero SF: “I’m super happy with my horse and super happy with my riding. Overall, there was one mistake in the twos and that was clearly my mistake. I was enjoying the surroundings and the Olympic experience too much so it wasn’t his fault; he did a super job! he’s really young (10 years old) and this was only his seventh Grand Prix.”

Heike Holstein (IRL): “It’s special when you breed a foal that you know from when it is running around in your fields as a baby, breaking it, competing it, and taking it all the way to the Olympic Games!”

Steffen Peters (USA), talking about his ride on Suppenkasper: “He’s a hot horse so to do a relaxed clean test was a very good start. This was not the test to go crazy in; we’ll do that in the Special! It’s been four years of a complete love affair with him; he’s such a big, kind teddy bear. He’s 18.2 hands tall but there’s not a mean bone in his body; he always tries and I’m one of the fortunate riders who gets to ride him!”

He complimented the judges on the scores they gave his team-mate Sabine Schut-Kery, whose pathfinding ride got the US off to a great start.

“Sabine is a cool, calm competitor with a helluva horse. Not too many people know her that well, but I appreciate that some of the judges who had never seen her before gave her a very good score.”

Results

by Louise Parkes

Media contacts:

Grania Willis
Executive Advisor
grania.willis@fei.org
+41 78 750 61 42

Olivia Robinson
Director, Communications
olivia.robinson@fei.org
+41 78 750 61 35

Shannon Gibbons
Manager, Media Relations & Media Operations
shannon.gibbons@fei.org
+41 78 750 61 46+

Celebrating Germany’s 13th Olympic Dressage team gold at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games: (L to R) Isabell Werth, Dorothee Schneider, Sönke Rothenberger, and Kristina Bröring-Sprehe. (FEI/Richard Juilliart)

Can Germany make it a fabulous 14?

Germany has a long and formidable record in Olympic Equestrian Dressage. Since the team competition was first introduced in Amsterdam (NED) in 1928, when the German side pinned Sweden into silver and The Netherlands into bronze, they have won 13 of the 20 Olympic team contests. And it’s looking very much like gold number 14 is just around the corner.

The loss to Great Britain at London in 2012 was the only blip in an otherwise seamless run that began in Los Angeles in 1984 when the great Reiner Klimke and Ahlerich led the victory gallop. Despite all the disruption of the last 18 months due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the Equine Herpes Virus (EHV-1) outbreak in mainland Europe, Team Germany arrive at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games as defending champions and strong favourites to do it all over again.

Isabell Werth heads the line-up with the mare Bella Rose and holding the World number one slot. And underpinning the sheer strength of the German challenge, she will be joined by World numbers two and four4, Jessica von Bredow-Werndl with TSF Dalera BB and Dorothee Schneider with Showtime FRH. With Helen Langehanenberg and her mare Annabelle in reserve, they seem like an unstoppable force.

However, the three-per team format introduced for this year’s Games could prove highly influential. One off day for just one team member and the story could be very different indeed, because every ride will be critical.

Dynamic duo

At the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Great Britain claimed silver and The Netherlands took team bronze and this time around the British send the dynamic duo of Charlotte Dujardin and Carl Hester once again, but both on relatively unexposed horses.

Dujardin’s decision to take the 10-year-old Gio instead of her considerably more experienced 12-year-old mare Mount St John Freestyle, who was in great form at Hagen (GER) in April and who swept all before her at the home international at Wellington (GBR) in May, came as a surprise. But the athlete, whose record-breaking partnership with the now-retired Valegro has helped popularise this sport like few before her, is backed up by the evergreen Hester and Charlotte Fry with Everdale, and she’s always going to be highly competitive.

Edward Gal with Total US and Hans Peter Minderhoud with Dream Boy headline the Dutch team, Patrik Kittel (Well Done de la Roche) leads the Swedish contingent, and Steffen Peters (Suppenkasper) will be a strong anchor for Team USA. Meanwhile, Team Belgium will be making a little bit of Olympic history as they make their first appearance since 1928.

When it comes to the individual honours all eyes will be on Denmark’s Cathrine Dufour and her fabulous horse Bohemian. The pair posted a back-to-back double of wins at the first leg of the FEI Dressage World Cup™ 2020/2021 series on home ground in Aarhus (DEN), pinning Germany’s Werth and von Bredow-Werndl into second and third.

But when the Covid cloud broke long enough for another leg to take place in Salzburg (AUT) in January, von Bredow-Werndl showed a whole new level of performance with her 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games™ gold-medal partner TSF Dalera BB, who has gone from strength to strength ever since. Now this pair looks a real threat to all the rest in the battle for individual Olympic glory.

Less obvious

However, at Olympic Games, the show-stealers are often the less obvious. Australia’s Mary Hanna, whose horse Calanta was the very first to arrive into the stables at Baji Koen Equestrian Park in Tokyo earlier this week, is a case in point. Because equestrian fans all around the world are already putting their hearts behind this mother of two and grandmother of four who, at the age of 66, is tackling her sixth Olympics.

Apart from the Beijing Games in 2008, she has been a member of every Australian Olympic Dressage team since 1996, and that’s quite some record. She’s as proud as ever to be flying her country’s flag alongside Kelly Layne riding Samhitas and Simone Pearce with Destano.

The last time Olympic Games were staged in Tokyo in 1964, Baji Koen was the venue for Dressage, which was a very different sport back then.

In the Grand Prix, the scores were announced after each ride and after the ride-off – which was filmed and then mulled over by judges Frantisek Jandl, Gustaf Nyblaeus, and Georges Margot; the public, the teams, and the media had to wait for two hours before the final results were announced. It should be a bit quicker this time around!

Swiss supremo Henri Chammartin with Woerman was eventually deemed the Individual champion, and the team title went to Germany’s Harry Boldt with Remus, Josef Neckermann with Antoinette, and Reiner Klimke with Dux.

How it will play out….

The FEI Grand Prix test, in which all athletes must participate, will take place on 24 and 25 July and is a qualifier for both the team and individual competitions. The qualification ranking will be decided by the results of all three team members.

Athletes compete in six groups, with three groups competing on each day. The composition of the groups is based on the FEI World Ranking list position of the athlete/horse combination on the date of definite entries (5 July 2021).

The top eight teams in the Grand Prix (and those tied for eighth place) will qualify for the FEI Grand Prix Special on 27 July.

During the period between the Team Qualifier (Grand Prix) and up to two hours before the start of the Team Final (Grand Prix Special), the Chef d’Equipe may substitute an athlete/horse combination. However, the substitute combination will not be entitled to compete in the FEI Grand Prix Freestyle.

The FEI Grand Prix Freestyle test is the Individual Final Competition which is open to 18 combinations qualified from the FEI Grand Prix. The qualified athletes will be the top two combinations from each of the six groups and the combinations with the six next highest scores.

The Dressage Tests are the FEI Grand Prix, the FEI Grand Prix Special, and the FEI Grand Prix Freestyle.

Media contacts:

Grania Willis
Executive Advisor
grania.willis@fei.org
+41 78 750 61 42

Olivia Robinson
Director, Communications
olivia.robinson@fei.org
+41 78 750 61 35

Shannon Gibbons
Manager, Media Relations & Media Operations
shannon.gibbons@fei.org
+41 78 750 61 46