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The Jumping discipline of the 2008 Olympic Games kicked off at Sha Tin stadium in Hong Kong tonight with a one-round competition which decided the starting order for Sunday's first round of the team event.

Three clears, from McLain Ward (Sapphire), Will Simpson (Carlsson von Dach) and Beezie Madden (Authentic), and a four fault round from Laura Kraut have ensured that the USA will have the advantage when last to go next Sunday evening, while with just a single fault to count from today's competition the Swiss, Canadians and Brazilians will also be low down the order-of-go of the 16 qualified nations.

The list of participating countries also includes Norway, The Netherlands, Great Britain, Australia, Mexico, Sweden, Germany, Saudi Arabia, The Ukraine, China and New Zealand; but, the biggest cheer tonight was reserved for the three riders from Hong Kong, and the clear round achieved by Patrick Lam and Urban brought a massive response from the crowd while the rider galloped around the ring as if he had already won the gold medal.

"What a feeling!" said the 25-year old who is based with German trainer Dietmar Gugler near Frankfurt in Germany. "This is like a dream come true! The crowd was fantastic and I've already done more than I ever expected - I have jumped a clear round at the Olympic Games - my horse was fantastic, I love him!" he enthused.

Great Britain's Nick Skelton was one of the early runners in the competition and, riding Russel who was only brought out of the reserve stable after Michael Whitaker's Portofino was declared unfit to compete earlier in the week, he was very pleased when collecting just a single time fault. Skelton was upbeat about his country's medal-winning potential, although he admitted that his own performance depends to a large extent on the mood of his unpredictable 13-year old stallion. "He was great today; but, you can never be sure what he is going to do tomorrow - he's a bit Jekyll and Hyde," he pointed out.

The much-fancied German team had an uneven day; but, they were taking the attitude that this first competition should give their horses the opportunity to relax in the ring without putting them under any real pressure. Christian Ahlmann and Coster collected 10 faults, Marco Kutscher collected six with Cornet Obolensky, and Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum's Shutterfly hit the vertical at fence eight while also picking up two time penalties. "I'm very pleased with how my horse went," Meredith said; however. "We decided not to put much pressure on this event, the real pressure begins on Sunday," she said, explaining the German tactics. "We have been waiting a long time for the competition to start because we have been here for more than a week and none of us are used to that," she explained. She has spent her free time in Hong Kong, ". . . working on physical fitness, keeping myself busy and doing a lot of shopping!" she added.

Michaels-Beerbaum said she feels very honoured being the first female rider ever to represent Germany in Jumping at an Olympic Games and that she is ". . . happy to be favourite for a medal - I'm No. 1 in the world and that's great; but, I also know that a lot of outsiders have won a gold medal at the Olympics so we will just have to wait and see what happens," she pointed out.

Britain's John Whitaker was also pleased with his round despite the fact that Peppermill flicked a toe on the narrow top plank at the pentultimate vertical. "I'm not too bothered about that, we will be starting on Sunday somewhere in the middle of the field so we are happy," he explained. But, after Ludger Beerbaum completed the German action with a 10-fault result for All Inclusive, there was some curiosity about why the hot-favourite nation were so laid-back considering that today's results count towards the individual rankings.

"Maybe we shouldn't be favourites anymore!" Ludger said, but he and his German colleagues would still be well-placed to fight for the individual medals later next week and that on Sunday, when the fences will be bigger and the course more technical, he and his team-mates would rise to the team challenge.

The individual riders also all compete in the first round of the team event, with the top 50 riders including the eight best-placed teams, going through to Monday's second round after which the Team Medals will be awarded. The top-35 riders, including those tied for 35th place, go through to Wednesday's first leg of the individual medal-decider and on Thursday next the individual medals will be presented after the top-20 final day.

Press Conference with the FEI President and Vice Presidents 15/08/2008
A press conference with the FEI President, FEI First and Second Vice Presidents, FEI Secretary General, the Chairman of the FEI Eventing Committee Wayne Roycroft and Olympic Technical Delegate for Eventing Giuseppe della Chiesa was held today at the Olympic core equestrian venue in Hong Kong. The main topics were the shortened distance for the Cross Country course – 4560m instead of 5700 as expected – and the slight modification to a fence on the Cross Country course brought on shortly before the beginning of the competition upon the request of the President on the basis of concerns over safety expressed by several team members. These topics had raised considerable interest and were subjects of discussion among the teams, officials and media.

Comprehensive reports by the FEI Second Vice President on these two issues are available on this page.

“This is the transparent FEI I have been elected to deliver,” the FEI President HRH Princess Haya said at the closure of the press conference, “and you [the media] should get used to such information coming from us. Safety cannot be mixed with politics,” she continued, “and I now beg you to concentrate on what really matters in these Games, the athletes and their wonderful performances.”

HRH Princess Haya furthermore paid tribute to BOCOG, the Equestrian Company and the Hong Kong Jockey Club for the exceptional facilities provided for the Olympic equestrian competitions. She also acknowledged the remarkable effort, made by the FEI and all its partners, which has allowed building extensive knowledge in numerous areas and which will be of great use for the future. “And let these Games, which are a true showcase for horsesport, end in the same way as they have begun,” Princess Haya concluded.

77 horse and rider combinations jumped in the qualifier

13 jumped double clears including McLain Ward (USA) and Beezie Madden (USA)

14 jumped with 1 time fault

2 jumped with 2 time faults

19 jumped with 4 faults including Laura Kraut (USA)

US Show Jumpers Shine in First Individual Qualifier at 2008 Olympic Games

By Joanie Morris

Hong Kong, China – The US show jumpers looked happy to stretch their legs tonight in the First Individual Qualifier. The main arena was turned over from a dressage ring to Grand Prix course tonight at Sha Tin as the jumping horses finally got a chance to play. 73 horses went to task over a beautiful course designed by Leopoldo Palacios and Steve Stephens.

The US was the only nation with three double clear rounds.

McLain Ward was the first American in the ring with the classy veteran mare (and defending Olympic Gold medalist) Sapphire. The 13-year-old Belgian Warmblood powered around the course in her usual fashion jumping, one of 13 double clear rounds.

“My horse made it look easy,” said Ward. “She’s such a pro. She has had really bad heat rash – she has really sensitive skin so I could use no leg on her because she wasn’t 100% comfortable. I have a great team behind me to help her out and she amazes me with what a great competitor she is.”

Sapphire (who is owned by Blue Chip Bloodstock and Tom Grossman) hadn’t jumped a fence in three weeks because Ward wanted to keep her fresh. There was no rust on Sapphire tonight, she didn’t get close to any of the fences, easily jumping clean.

Laura Kraut (who also rode at the Sydney Olympics in 2000) and Cedric were next in for the US and there probably aren’t two who are more different horses than Cedric and Sapphire. Cedric, a 10-year-old Dutch gelding, is so tiny he could barely be seen behind the standards as he cantered around the ring before the bell.

“He was super,” said Kraut about Happy Hill Farm and Peter Wetherill’s horse. “I think he handled everything great. George (Morris) said go in there and get him comfortable.”

Relatively inexperienced, the Olympic Games certainly were not on Kraut’s radar screen for Cedric at the beginning of the year.

Good thing no one told him.

“I was a bit strong into the triple,” said Kraut, who had the second element down. “Apart from that I couldn’t be happier. He’s ready.”

Will Simpson has spent the better part of 30 years chasing the Olympic dream. Tonight he caught up with it and jumped a spectacular clear round on El Campeon Farm’s Carlsson vom Dach.

The 12-year-old Holsteiner gelding made light work of the course, even though Simpson had thought he may need to use it as a training round if the horse was feeling frisky.

“We walked the course and talked about some options to better prepare him for later on in the competition because sometimes he can be a handful,” said Simpson, who lives in Thousand Oaks, CA. “But tonight he was, as George said, ‘textbook’. It was one of the thrills of my life. To have a horse like this - that can do this - is so special. I’m so lucky. He really wants to jump clean and everything worked out just as we had planned in there. I have a lot of confidence in my horse.”

Simpson has spent the last six months specifically aiming to these Games, teamed up with three (four including reserve rider Anne Kursinski) tremendously experienced riders while on tour in Europe, Simpson learned plenty before he even landed in Hong Kong.

“I’ve learned more in the last six months than I have in the last 35 years of riding,” said Simpson. “The team work and the dedication is an unbelievable experience.”

Ward and Sapphire’s gold medal winning teammates, Beezie Madden and Authentic rounded out the US group. Tremendously consistent and reliable, Authentic may have been the best of the night in the third to last spot. He jumped easily around the track and looked very pleased to be back in the ring.

“He was great tonight,” said Madden. “It was a very good course for him, the triple combination was a good gymnastic for him as he can be an aggressive horse and the distances got shorter as you went through.”

The 13-year-old KWPN gelding owned by Abigail Wexner has, like Sapphire, been a stalwart of the US Team for the last four years.

“We have some new faces on the team, with Laura’s horse and Will,” said Madden. “We really want to medal, if the horses just stay the way they are we will be set. But sometimes that’s the hard part.”

The show jumpers return to the ring on Sunday evening for the first leg of the team competition. They will jump in reverse order by team based on the standings of the top three riders from each team in today’s competition.

Dressage returns tomorrow night as the first round of the individual portion of the competition begins at 7.15 pm. Courtney King-Dye and Mythilus and Steffen Peters and Ravel will represent the US. They drew back-to-back spots in the order and will go at 10.35 pm and 10.55 pm respectively.

ENDS

The vision of the United States Equestrian Federation® is to provide leadership for equestrian sport in the United States of America by promoting the pursuit of excellence from the grassroots to the Olympic Games, based on a foundation of fair, safe competition and the welfare of its human and equine athletes.