Equestrian at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Individual jumping

The individual show jumping event, part of the equestrian program at the 2004 Summer Olympics, was held from 22 to 27 August 2004 in the Olympic Equestrian Centre on the outskirts of Markopoulo in the Attica region of Greece. Like all other equestrian events, the jumping competition was mixed gender, with both male and female athletes competing in the same division. There were 77 competitors from 27 nations. Each nation could send up to 4 riders. Cian O'Connor of Ireland initially received the gold medal, but that medal was stripped from him due to doping. After his disqualification, the event was won by Rodrigo Pessoa of Brazil, the nation's first medal in individual jumping. Silver went to Chris Kappler of the United States, with bronze to Marco Kutscher of Germany.

Doping test

On 8 October 2004, the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) announced that the A-samples from four Olympic horses had failed doping control, and the Equestrian Federation of Ireland said one of these was Cian O'Connor's horse, Waterford Crystal. The urine B-sample went missing en route to a testing laboratory, prompting a flurry of media interest. On 9 November, testing of the blood B-sample confirmed traces of fluphenazine and zuclopenthixol. On 27 March 2005, the FEI gave a ruling disqualifying O'Connor and banning him from competition for three months, while accepting his contention that the drugs were administered by a vet as part of a sedative for a leg injury and were not with intent to enhance performance. O'Connor decided not to appeal and began his suspension on 11 April 2005. He was formally stripped of his medal at the end of the appeal window, on 3 July 2005.

Rodrigo Pessoa was presented with his gold medal in August 2005 at a ceremony on Copacabana Beach.

Background

This was the 22nd appearance of the event, which had first been held at the 1900 Summer Olympics and has been held at every Summer Olympics at which equestrian sports have been featured (that is, excluding 1896, 1904, and 1908). It is the oldest event on the current programme, the only one that was held in 1900.

Three of the top 12 riders (including ties for 10th place) from the 2000 Games returned: fourth-place finishers Ludo Philippaerts of Belgium and Otto Becker of Germany and tenth-place finisher Thomas Velin of Denmark. 1992 Olympic gold medalist Ludger Beerbaum of Germany also returned. The reigning World Champion, Dermott Lennon of Ireland, did not compete due to an injury to his horse, Liscalgot. Other notable absences included Marcus Ehning (also due to equine injury) and Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum (positive doping test), both of Germany. Despite those absences, Germany still had a strong team (sweeping the podium at the European championships). Rodrigo Pessoa was among the favorites, as he had been in 2000 before refusals derailed his final round ride in Sydney.

Greece made its debut in the event. France competed for the 20th time, most of any nation.

Competition format

The competition used the five-round format introduced in 1992, with three rounds in the qualifying round and two rounds in the final.

For the qualifying round, each pair competed in three rounds. The total score across all three rounds counted for advancement to the individual final; the second and third rounds counted towards the team score. The individual competition allowed 45 pairs to advance to the final, though only three pairs per nation were allowed. Scores did not carry over to the final.

In the final, there were two rounds. All of the finalists competed in the first, but only the top 20 pairs competed again in the second round. The combined score for the two rounds was the result for those pairs. A jump-off would be used if necessary to break ties for medal positions; other ties would not be broken.

Schedule

All times are Greece Standard Time (UTC+2)

Date Time Round Sunday, 22 August 2004 9:00 Qualifying round 1 Tuesday, 24 August 2004 9:0020:30 Qualifying round 2Qualifying round 3 Friday, 27 August 2004 16:0020:30 Final round AFinal round B

Results

Qualifying round

Round 1

10 of the 77 pairs had flawless rides in the first qualifying round. The two riders who were eliminated during the round automatically received a score 20 points higher than the highest other score and continued to compete in the second round.

Rank Rider Nation Horse Penalties Jump Time Total1 Peter Wylde Fein Cera 0 0 0 Juan Carlos García Albin III 0 0 0 Thomas Velin Carnute 0 0 0 Malin Baryard Butterfly Flip 0 0 0 Antonis Petris Gredo la Daviere 0 0 0 Peder Fredericson Magic Bengtsson 0 0 0 Grant Cashmore Franklins Flyte 0 0 0 Ludo Philippaerts Parco 0 0 0 Beezie Madden Authentic 0 0 0 Wim Schröder Montreal 0 0 0 11 Otto Becker Dobels Cento 0 1 1 McLain Ward Sapphire 0 1 1 Bernardo Alves Canturo 0 1 1 Nick Skelton Arko III 0 1 1 11 Ludger Beerbaum Goldfever 0 1 1 Cian O'Connor Waterford Crystal 0 1 1 17 Kevin Babington Carling King 0 2 2 18 Yuka Watanabe Nike 0 3 319 Christian Ahlmann Cöster 4 0 4 Chris Kappler Royal Kaliber 4 0 4 Jos Lansink Cumano 4 0 4 Leopold van Asten Fleche Rouge 4 0 4 Rolf-Göran Bengtsson Mac Kinley 4 0 4 Robert Smith Mr Springfield 4 0 4 Bruno Broucqsault Dileme de Cephe 4 0 4 Markus Fuchs Tinka's Boy 4 0 4 Stanny Van Paesschen O de Pomme 4 0 4 Florian Angot First de Launay 4 0 4 Jessica Kürten Castle Forbes Maike 4 0 4 Gert-Jan Bruggink Joel 4 0 431 Eric Navet Dollar du Murier 4 1 5 Gerco Schröder Monaco 4 1 5 Peter Eriksson Cardento 4 1 5 Fabio Crotta Mme Pompadour M 4 1 5 Bruno Chimirri Landknecht 4 1 5 Rodrigo Pessoa Baloubet du Rouet 4 1 5 Federico Sztyrle Who Knows Lilly 4 1 5 Danae Tsatsou Roble Z 4 1 5 Luciana Diniz Mariachi 4 1 5 Rossen Raitchev Medoc II 4 1 5 Sohn Bong-Gak Cim Christo 4 1 542 Hwang Soon-Won C.Chap 4 2 6 Marion Hughes Fortunus 4 2 6 Eugenie Angot Cigale du Taillis 4 2 6 Woo Jung-Ho Seven Up 4 2 6 Steve Guerdat Olympic 4 2 647 Gerardo Tazzer Chanel 4 4 8 Álvaro Alfonso de Miranda Neto Countdown 23 8 0 8 Vincenzo Chimirri Delfi Platiere 8 0 8 Martín Dopazo Furka du Village 8 0 8 Tadayoshi Hayashi Swanky 8 0 8 Grzegorz Kubiak Djane des Fontenis 8 0 8 Marco Kutscher Montender 8 0 854 Federico Fernandez Behomio 8 8 1 9 Ramzy Al-Duhami Fall Khaeer 8 1 9 Lucas Werthein Warren 8 1 9 Christina Liebherr No Mercy 8 1 9 58 Andre Sakakini Casper 8 2 10 59 Ian Millar Promise Me 8 3 1160 Kamal Bahamdan Casita 12 0 12 Taizo Sugitani Lamalushi 12 0 12 Dirk Demeersman Clinton 12 0 1263 Daniel Meech Diagonal 12 1 13 Ibrahim Bisharat Qwinto 12 1 13 Hannah Mytilinaiou Santana 12 1 1366 Joo Jung-Hyun Epsom Gesmeray 12 2 14 Ryuichi Obata Oliver Q 12 2 14 68 Vladimir Tuganov Leroy Brown 12 3 1569 Marcela Lobo Joskin 12 4 16 Guy Thomas Madison 16 0 16 71 Roberto Arioldi Dime de la Cour 16 1 17 72 Gustavo Hernández Leyva Minotauro 16 3 19 73 Mark Watring Sapphire 24 1 25 74 Bruce Goodin Braveheart 24 4 28 75 Tim Amitrano Mr Innocent 36 2 3876 Emmanouela Athanassiades Rimini Z Eliminated (58) 58 Gregorio Werthein Calwaro El Eliminated (58) 58

Round 2

The second qualifying round was also the first team round. Only one pair continued to progress without any penalties, though 27 had 10 or fewer.

Rank Rider Nation Horse Penalties Jump Time Round 1 Total 1 Beezie Madden Authentic 0 0 0 0 2 Juan Carlos García Albin III 0 1 0 1 2 Ludger Beerbaum Goldfever 0 0 1 1 4 Kevin Babington Carling King 0 1 2 35 Wim Schröder Montreal 4 0 0 4 Antonis Petris Gredo la Daviere 4 0 0 4 Ludo Philippaerts Parco 4 0 0 4 Gert-Jan Bruggink Joel 0 0 4 4 Chris Kappler Royal Kaliber 0 0 4 4 Rolf-Göran Bengtsson Mac Kinley 0 0 4 4 Thomas Velin Carnute 4 0 0 4 12 Rodrigo Pessoa Baloubet du Rouet 0 0 5 513 Nick Skelton Arko III 4 1 1 6 Yuka Watanabe Nike 0 3 3 6 Otto Becker Dobels Cento 4 1 1 616 Florian Angot First de Launay 4 0 4 8 Christian Ahlmann Cöster 4 0 4 8 Peder Fredericson Magic Bengtsson 8 0 0 8 Leopold van Asten Fleche Rouge 4 0 4 8 Marco Kutscher Montender 0 0 8 8 Malin Baryard-Johnsson Butterfly Flip 8 0 0 8 Markus Fuchs Tinka's Boy 4 0 4 823 Peter Eriksson Cardento 4 0 5 9 Bernardo Alves Canturo 8 0 1 9 Christina Liebherr No Mercy 0 0 9 9 McLain Ward Sapphire 8 0 1 9 27 Eugenie Angot Cigale du Taillis 4 0 6 1028 Peter Wylde Fein Cera 12 0 0 12 Grant Cashmore Franklins Flyte 12 0 0 12 Dirk Demeersman Clinton 0 0 12 12 Robert Smith Mr Springfield 8 0 4 12 Stanny van Paesschen O de Pomme 8 0 4 12 33 Fabio Crotta Mme Pompadour M 8 0 5 13 Jessica Kürten Castle Forbes Maike 8 1 4 13 Gerco Schröder Monaco 8 0 5 13 Bruno Chimirri Landknecht 8 0 5 13 33 Cian O'Connor Waterford Crystal 12 0 1 13 38 U Jung-ho Seven Up 8 0 6 14 39 Hwang Sun-won C.Chap 8 1 6 1540 Martín Dopazo Furka du Village 8 0 8 16 Álvaro Alfonso de Miranda Neto Countdown 23 8 0 8 1642 Rossen Raitchev Medoc II 12 0 5 17 Jos Lansink Cumano 12 1 4 17 44 Luciana Diniz Mariachi 12 1 5 18 45 Daniel Meech Diagonal 4 2 13 1946 Vincenzo Chimirri Delfi Platiere 12 0 8 20 Grzegorz Kubiak Djane des Fontenis 12 0 8 2048 Federico Fernandez Behomio 8 12 0 9 21 Ian Millar Promise Me 8 2 11 21 Eric Navet Dollar du Murier 16 0 5 21 51 Ibrahim Bisharat Qwinto 8 1 13 22 52 Vladimir Tuganov Leroy Brown 8 0 15 23 53 Kamal Bahamdan Casita 12 0 12 24 54 Tadayoshi Hayashi Swanky 16 1 8 2555 Steve Guerdat Olympic 20 0 6 26 Son Bong-gak Cim Christo 16 5 5 26 Ramzy Al-Duhami Fall Khaeer 16 1 9 26 Andre Sakakini Casper 16 0 10 2659 Roberto Arioldi Dime de la Cour 8 2 17 27 Ju Jeong-hyeon Epsom Gesmeray 12 1 14 27 61 Taizo Sugitani Lamalushi 16 0 12 28 62 Guy Thomas Madison 12 1 16 29 63 Hannah Roberson-Mytilinaiou Santana 24 2 13 39 64 Marcela Lobo Joskin 20 5 16 41 65 Danai Tsatsou Roble Z 32 7 5 44 66 Gustavo Hernández Leyva Minotauro 32 1 19 52 67 Bruce Goodin Braveheart 28 0 28 56 68 Mark Watring Sapphire 36 3 25 64 69 Gregorio Werthein Calwaro El 12 2 58 72 70 Emmanouela Athanasiadi Rimini Z 8 9 58 75 71 Tim Amitrano Mr Innocent 44 4 38 8672 Gerardo Tazzer Chanel Eliminated (68) 8 76 Lucas Werthein Warren Eliminated (68) 9 77 Ryuichi Obata Oliver Q Eliminated (68) 9 7775 Bruno Broucqsault Dileme de Cephe 4 Federico Enrique Sztyrle Who Knows Lilly 5 Marion Hughes Fortunus 6

Round 3

The third individual qualifier was also the second team round. All athletes competed individually regardless of their team's qualification. 45 pairs advanced to the final round. Only three pairs from any single NOC could advance. This meant that all pairs through 51st place were qualified, as that was the lowest place that would allow for no less than 45 pairs to advance after teams that had four qualified pairs selected three of them. Since there was a tie for 51st place, a total of 46 pairs advanced.