Olympic News <- Please Post Articles and Links

Alibear

SHOW jumper Cian O'Connor has been named as Ireland's official non-travelling Olympic reserve.


Cian, who won individual gold at Athens in 2004 and was then stripped of his title after a doping offence, will ride the 11-year-old Complete.

Horse Sport Ireland has been offered a dressage place following the withdrawal of another rider, but said neither of its two qualified riders, Judy Reynolds or Anna Merveldt, could accept at short notice.
www.horsesportireland.ie

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/397/264300.html

skink

Thats been out for a good while now

finbarrk

Don't think that matters now, horses were due to fly out Monday.

Alibear

From the EI Website...

IRELAND'S Olympic Three Day Eventing Team flew out to Hong Kong after breakfast at the Hilton Hotel on the Malahide Road, Dublin yesterday morning.
The team of Capt Geoff Curran, Louise Lyons, Patricia Ryan, Niall Griffin and Austin O'Connor have been with their horses in quarantine since July 17 and their horses flew to Hong Kong on Monday.
The first Horse Inspection for the Eventers at Hong Kong is on Friday 8 August, followed by Dressage on 9 and 10 August. Cross-country begins on Monday 11 August and the final show jumping phase is on Tuesday 12 August.
The morning's breakfast attracted many officials, well-wishers, and members of the media. The Olympic Council of Ireland was represented by Honorary Secretary General Dermot Sherlock.
UPDATE: WEDNESDAY 30 JULY
The horses have just been unloaded from the 'plane and are now travelling to their stables. All went well and the horses are fine.

togster

For an up to date look at their preparations visit http://www.eventingireland.com

profiles of the horses and riders and some words from the riders themselves.

doctor evil

I heard RTE are to have good coverage of the Olympics, does this cover the Equestrian part.

Alibear

Another update on the EI website - http://www.eventingireland.com/news/?action=detail&itemid=985

Alibear

doctor evil wrote: »

I heard RTE are to have good coverage of the Olympics, does this cover the Equestrian part.

Yes, I'm pretty sure they'll cover some of the equestrian events. The BBC will also have very good coverage

finbarrk

Anyone here going. I could meet you for a beer in HK if so.

skink

yea nice to rub it in!

This thread has been stickified and will remain so for the duration of the Olympics. I remind all posters to read the charter - especially the bit about bad mouthing named persons.

togster

Apparently there is typhoon warnings in Hong Kong. Whole place has shut down for the time being. I heard that one of the biggest challenges faced by the horses is the humidity and how quickly it can change.

Is there any word on the air pollution spike that was present last week?

Alibear

This Monday at 1am, RTE will be showing live cross-country action

Alibear

From the H&H website...

The French eventing team has suffered a heavy blow after Jean Teulere's 2002 World Equestrian Games winning mount, Espoir de la Mare, aggravated an old ligament injury.


French Chef d'Equipe Thierry Touzaint confirmed yesterday (Wednesday) that the 16-year-old gelding has been withdrawn from the 2008 Olympic Games on veterinary advice.

Espoir de la Mare aggravated the old injury some weeks ago but had made a good recovery and travelled to Hong Kong.

However the leg flared up again after a gallop last weekend.

Mr Touzaint insisted however that the injury is not career-threatening and that the horse should be back in action with his 54-year-old rider within the foreseeable future.

Teulere and the gelding claimed the individual gold medal at the World Equestrian Games in Jerez, Spain in 2002, team gold and individual fourth at the Athens Olympic Games in 2004 and fourth at last summer's FEI European Eventing Championships at Pratoni in Italy.
The remaining French horses and riders — Eric Vigeanel and Coronado Prior, Nicolas Touzaint with Galan de Sauvagere, Jean Renaud Adde with Haston D'Elpegere and Didier Dhennin with Ismene du Temple — and the other 23 nations, face a vet inspection tomorrow at 4pm local time or 9am BST.

RTE

Olympics about to begin!

RTE wrote:

Ireland's Austin O'Connor and Captain Geoff Curran will line out in the first group of riders as the dressage phase of the Olympic three-day-event gets underway at the equestrian venue at Sha Tin in Hong Kong at 11.30pm Irish-time tonight.

All five Irish horses passed the first veterinary inspection with flying colours and team veterinary surgeon Marcus Swail confirmed that they are in good shape ahead of the Olympic contest.

A total of 11 nations are taking part in the eventing medal race, and British-based Cork man O'Connor will register the first Irish score riding the French-bred gelding Hobby du Mee while army man Curran rides Kilkishen, the horse with which he won the Eventing World Cup qualifier at Tattersalls in Fairyhouse earlier in the summer.

Louise Lyons and Watership Down will compete in the second group, while Patricia Donegan and Fernhill Clover Mist and Niall Griffin and Lorgaine will be in action on Sunday morning.

The cross-country will take place at Beas River, a 30-minute drive away from Sha Tin, on Monday morning and the final showjumping phase will be staged on Tuesday.

Alibear

BBC Equestrian Coverage Schedule can be found here -
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/whatsontv/396/55955.html

Alibear

Parkmore Ed was held at the first vet's inspection...

The British team suffered some anxious moments at today's first vets' inspection at the Olympic three-day event in Hong Kong when William Fox-Pitt's ride Parkmore Ed was sent to the holding box.


The ground jury was concerned over the presence of a girth gall just behind the saddle, but after conferring with vets they passed the horse.

"It's a first for me," said William. "The gall was caused by the girth being too tight or rubbing. He's had it for a few days, but ironically today it was more swollen. I hope by the time the next inspection occurs they'll have more important things to worry about."

The rest of the British horses passed the first trot-up without incident. Only two horses, Literal from Chile and Butterfly from Brazil, failed.

Britain's team order has now been confirmed with William and Parkmore Ed running second behind pathfinders Daisy Dick and Spring Along, who fulfilled the same role at last year's Europeans in Pratoni. Tina Cook and Miners Frolic will be number three, Sharon Hunt and Tankers Town will run as number four, with Mary King and Call Again Cavalier given the anchor slot.

Mary admitted that she has been surprised by the intensity of Mike Etherington-Smith's 29-fence cross-country course.

"There are a lot of jumping efforts in 8min of galloping," said Mary. "The course is a lot bigger than in Athens and is a true four-star test. I think the time will be virtually impossible to get."

Course-designer Mike Etherington-Smith confirmed that he didn't believe any one of the 72 runners would get within the optimum.

The weather forecast is looking promising for Monday, when the cross-country is scheduled to start at 8am. The searing heat that is usual for Hong Kong in August has not yet materialised. The typhoon that passed over earlier in the week has left cooler and rainy conditions in its wake, which has also assisted the going.

"We did need rain. Maybe not quite as much as we've had in the last two days, but the wet makes the sandy footing more secure," said Mike.
Mike also confirmed that, based on the current weather forecast, none of the loops especially designed for removal should conditions dictate it, will need to be taken out. However, should Hong Kong be subject to the deluge it experienced this morning, the start of the cross-country is likely to be delayed.

Alibear

Poor Trish was having a very hard time with Fernhill Clover Mist She's currently lying in second last place - Things aren't looking good for the Irish team at all Niall's doing his test later, hopefully he'll do well...

RTE

Please post the contents of the articles with the links.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/olympics2008/2008/0809/ireland.html

RTE wrote:

Austin O'Connor lies 19th and Geoff Curran is in 21st place after the first session of eventing dressage at the Olympic equestrian venue at Sha Tin in Hong Kong this morning.

O'Connor and the French-bred Hobby du Mee earned a score of 52.80 while Curran and the Irish-bred Kilkishen registered a mark of 61.70.

Australia's Lucinda Fredericks and Headley Britannias, hot favourite for the individual title, went straight into the lead with a superb test that put just 30.40 penalty points on the board, and the Aussies are currently leading the team rankings after Lucinda's husband, Clayton Fredericks, scored 37.00 with the Irish horse Ben Along Time.

Lying second on the team leaderboard are the Americans with Sweden in third while Ireland lies eighth, but there are still two further sessions of dressage to come.

Louise Lyons goes into the ring with Watership Down at 1.40 this afternoon while Bandon woman Patricia Donegan and Enniscorthy's Niall Griffin take their turn in the early hours of tomorrow morning.

The cross-country phase of the three-day event takes place on Monday morning.

fits

Heres the up-to-date stuff.

Dressage is our weak point always.

Australia on Sunday topped the list in the dressage phase of equestrian three-day eventing, thanks to strong performances by husband and wife team Lucinda and Clayton Fredericks.

The Australian eventing team racked up 102.80 penalty points. Germany came second with 110.50 penalty points, and the U.S. team was third with 115.60 penalty points.

Dressage, the first phase of eventing, will be followed by cross-country on Monday and show jumping on Tuesday.

'Difficult and lots of turns. Riders have to be super focused. Tomorrow evening the world will look differently,' said Germany's Ingrid Klimke of the cross-country course.


The Irish team are lying in a disappointing tenth position out of 11 countries after the dressage, with Niall Griffin best placed individually in 35th place out of 69 competitors.

Austin O'Connor is in 42nd spot, Louise Lyons in 55th, Geoffrey Curran in 59th and Patricia Ryan in 69th.

Lucinda Fredericks leads the individual competition from Karin Donckers of Belgium and German Ingrid Klimke.

Horse Sport Ireland High Performance Coach Ginny Elliott was still
optimistic about Ireland's hopes after the dressage phase of the Three Day Event in Hong Kong left the team in
tenth place of eleven teams competing.

'Remember we are just 60 penalties behind the leaders. Sixty penalties is equivalent to one fall or three refusals. Anything can happen at this stage of the event, and I would rather we fought back from this position, which we are capable of doing, rather than fall from a higher one.'

'There's a lot of work to do tomorrow on the cross-country course, but I'm still very positive,' she said.

Elliott also remarked on the effect large video and score screens had on two of the Irish horses during dressage.

She explained: 'About one horse in every team was affected by this. The score screens and video screens are usually much, much higher, but here they were almost at eye level, and they had a disturbing effect on Geoff Curran's horse 'KIlkeshen' and also on Trish Ryan's 'Fernhill Clover Mist' during their tests.

Horses are unpredictable animals, and you cannot anticipate something like this. Geoff and Trish were heading for much lower penalty scores in their tests when their horses reacted badly to the screens.'

Niall Griffin, last to go of the five-strong team, turned in Ireland's best dressage score early this morning with a total of 50.60.

Alibear

Interview with Ginny Elliott - http://www.rte.ie/sport/olympics2008/2008/0809/ireland.html

fits

Alibear, could you post the text in future please?

Alibear

It's a link to a voice clip, so there's no text to post.

Alibear

Start list for XC - http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/EQ/C51CE/EQX003301.shtml#EQX003301

Mark Todd and Gandalf are first out at 1am our time. Austin O'Connor is the first Irish rider out at 1.18am our time.

finbarrk

Looks like we are 6th in the team going into the SJ. Pity RTE didn't show all of the XC.
Looks like 3 Irish breds have individual medal chances, 3-4-5 now anyway.
Our dressage scores let us down as usual.
http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/EQ/C73CD/EQX003301.shtml#EQX003301

finbarrk

RTE are back in HK now, for those not watching it's a difficult course as expected. Nobody is coming within half a minute of the time. Horses look very tired afterwards, and it is making a drop of rain.

finbarrk

Finished 8th.
http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/EQ/C73CC/EQX403201.shtml#EQX403201
Germany and Aus to fight it out for the gold by the looks of it. GB to get 3rd I'd say.

togster

Poor performance tbh

RTE

We normally do well in the showjumping though - might make up a couple of places.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/olympics2008/2008/0811/ireland1.html

RTE wrote:

Ireland moved up to the eighth place overall after the eventing team cross country on day three of competition.

Ireland moved up to the eighth place overall after the eventing team cross country on day three of competition. They now lie within striking distance of the medal positions on 265.10 points.

Germany lead the table with 158.10 points, followed by Australia on 162.00 and Great Britain on 173.70.

In the eventing individual cross country event, the pick of Ireland's individuals is Louise Lyons in 35th place.

Austin O'Connor riding Hobby du Mee is one place behind in 36th position.

Geoffrey Curran and Kilkishen lie in 39th, while Niall Griffin and Lorgaine lie in 41st.

Patricia Ryan and Fernhill Clover Mist complete the Irish team in 47th place.
Tools:

Alibear

I stayed up all morning watching it on BBC interactive. All the Irish riders went clear except for Niall Griffin.

Alibear

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/olympics/article4501280.ece

Mike Etherington-Smith, the Olympic three-day-event course designer, has threatened never to work for the FEI (International Equestrian Federation) again after being told by Princess Haya, the president of the FEI, to make an alteration to his cross-country course on the eve of the Olympic cross-country event.
Princess Haya, the wife of Sheik Mohammed el Maktoum, was driven round the Olympic course at Beas River by Mr Etherington-Smith on Sunday after his course had been officially passed as safe and fair by the ground jury. She had nothing but praise until she reached Fence 18, The Stone Forest, where Princess Haya asked for the large boulders in front of the fence to be replaced by a softer groundline because the boulders could be dangerous if horses missed their footing.
Mr Etherington-Smith, one of the most respected course designers in the world, was outraged. "It was totally out of order for Princess Haya to intervene at that point - she was put up to it but it was not for her to make changes at that stage - it's a point of principle because it undermines the authority of the ground jury and the technical delegate," he said. "I'm furious and if the FEI ask me in future to go on any of their advisory committees I shall refuse."
Princess Haya, who has been very much a "hands on" president since she took over the reins of the FEI three years ago was unrepentant. "It was not easy to make a stand at that point but in my position I must think of the welfare of the horses and the poor image of the sport that would follow if there were photographs of a horse being injured at the fence," she said. "I had been approached by several people, including some of the team managers, about the fence. We are all in this for the good of the sport - the change was purely cosmetic - it was not altering the dimensions or shape of the fence in any way.

fits

sounds ridiculous, on both sides

finbarrk

I wouldn't blame Princess Hayia anyway. The course was difficult and we definatley don't want any more tradgedies.
There were a few fallers but I think every horse and rider were ok afterwards.
Of course it could be a different story tomorrow at the trot up. I would expect a few not to pass the vet.

Alibear

Patricia Ryan had 3 down and 1 time penalty in the showjumping.

Alibear

You can watch the eventing showjumping online here - http://www.eurovisionsports.tv/olympics/
Click "Live 02"

Alibear

12 jumping penalties for Niall

Alibear

A clear for Geoff with 2 time penalties - Well done Geoff!

Alibear

Clear round for Austin, WOOHOO!

Alibear

2 down for Louise Lyons and 1 time penalty. Ireland are currently lying in 5th place, better than I thought we'd do initially!

Alibear

Team
1) Germany

2) Australia

3) UK

Ireland came 8th

Individual
1) ROMEIKE Hinrich (Germany)
MARIUS

2) KLIMKE Ingrid (Germany)
ABRAXXAS

3) JONES Megan (Australia)
IRISH JESTER

Austin O'Connor was best of the Irish in 28th place

Alibear

Clear for Austin in the individual showjumping - He got 1 time penalty though.

Alibear

Oooh, they've changed the time allowed from 65 to 67 seconds so Austin no longer has a time penalty.

Alibear

Individual Eventing Results...

1) ROMEIKE Hinrich
MARIUS - 54.20

2) MILES Gina
MCKINLAIGH 56.10

3) COOK Kristina
MINERS FROLIC 57.40

Austin finishes in 22nd place

finbarrk

Brilliant coverage on BBC today. Claire Balding is over there for them.

fits

That McKinlaigh horse who won silver is by the same sire as my youngster who died last year (Highland King)

Alibear

Sorry to hear that Fits

Alibear

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/olympics/2008/08/dont_be_disappointed_with_brit.html

American Phillip Dutton, who finished 16th in the individual round on Connaught, was disqualified from the competition when he contravened the FEI horse welfare ruling, introduced in February this year, that horse boots should weigh no more than 500g.

BBC

Michael Whitaker is out.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/equestrian/7558349.stm

BBC wrote:

GB's Michael Whitaker has been forced to withdraw from the team showing jumping event after his horse Portofino 63 was declared unfit to compete.

The mare had been declared sound before travelling to Hong Kong, but developed the problem in the last 48 hours.

The team veterinarian carried out an investigation but was unable to diagnose the cause of the problem.

Reserve horse Russel, ridden by Nick Skelton, has been added to the squad of four for Friday's team jumping event.

finbarrk

Thats hard luck on Michael. A good reserve to have though!

Alibear

What a performance from GB's Emma Hindle in the dressage!