Germany have reclaimed the Olympic dressage team gold medal with three plus-80% performances in the grand prix special – which solely decided the Olympic dressage team medals in Tokyo. Meanwhile the USA have overtaken to Britain to claim the silver medal, while Britain bring home the bronze at the Tokyo Olympics.
The all-female German team of Isabell Werth (Bella Rose), Jessica von Bredow-Werndl (TSF Dalera) and Dorothee Schneider (Showtime FRH) are the same trio that won European gold in 2019 and they continued their dominance of the sport here in the fight for the Olympic dressage team medals. Dorothee bettered her grand prix performance to post 80.6%, while Isabell received 83.3%. Last-to-go Jessica was riding for the gold, and lived up to all expectations with her second plus-84% test of the Games.
The battle for silver was much closer. Britain had maintained a hold on silver throughout the team final thus far, but the USA’s Sabine Schut-Kery could not have picked a better occasion on which to produce her first ever plus-80% test with Sanceo. She and the 15-year-old San Remo stallion posted 81.6% – an enormous personal best – to lift USA above Britain.
It was up to Charlotte Dujardin to pull Britain back into the silver medal spot, and she rode a cracking test with the 10-year-old Gio – who has performed just one international grand prix special in his life before now. A bit of greenness showed through, however, and a small mistake behind in the one-time changes cost them dearly. The score was still excellent – 79.54% – but it meant Britain missed out on silver by just 24 points – under 1%.
Denmark claimed fourth, after mistakes from their top rider Cathrine Dufour resulted in 77.72%, which is far below her and the 11-year-old Bohemian’s best. The Netherlands claimed fifth, with their talisman Edward Gal scoring 79.98% aboard the flashy Totilas stallion Total US. Sweden took sixth, with Spain seventh and Portugal eighth.
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