Medal wins in eventing, show jumping, and dressage secure Team Canada’s spot at 2008 Olympic Games
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - The Canadian eventing team of Kyle Carter, Sandra Donnelly, Waylon Roberts and Michael Winter has won the silver medal at the XV Pan American Games that took place from July 14 to 29 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The third and final phase of competition, show jumping, took place on Sunday, July 22, at the National Equestrian Centre located north of downtown Rio. Team and individual medal ceremonies immediately followed.
For the third consecutive time, the United States won gold. The team from host country Brazil took the bronze medal. The teams of Chile and Argentina finished with incomplete teams, having lost members through retirement and elimination during the three-day competition.
In addition to its silver medal, the Canadian eventing team earned one of two berths for the 2008 Olympic Games through its Pan Am finish. The United States was already qualified through its world championship performance last year, giving the two Olympic starting spots to the next best placed teams, Canada and Brazil.
The Canadian eventing team at this Pan Am Games was a relatively young one with three riders competing in a major international championship for the first time.
Canadian Team Technical Advisor David O’Connor expressed pride in his team’s performance, saying “There were six cross-country rounds under the time and three of them were Canadian. Canada was also the only country to finish with four clear jumping rounds on cross-country. They have done a fantastic job.”
Canada had been sitting in silver medal position since the first day of competition, the dressage. The U.S. team, consisting of three seasoned Olympic veterans, established a lead that would stand throughout the remaining days of competition. Canadian Chef d’Equipe Graeme Thom noted that the riders all exceeded expectations in the dressage phase.
“It was a personal best for everyone,” said Thom, who added that the aggressive and competitive spirit displayed by the Canadians on cross-country was equally impressive. The U.S. had one team member experience difficulty on course, but since only the top three scores out of four riders count towards the team placings, the U.S. entered the final phase in gold medal position.
Renowned Brazilian course designer, Guilherme Jorge, set Sunday’s challenging show jumping track. Of the 21 horses that competed in the show jumping phase, only four had rounds with no jumping faults, and only three of those were free of time penalties over the course featuring 12 numbered obstacles and 15 jumping efforts spread over 490 meters.
Waylon Roberts, 18, of Port Perry, ON, was the first Canadian team rider on course, the order of go being in reverse order of standing. Roberts completed his round with Paleface, a 12-year-old Canadian Thoroughbred gelding owned by Kelly Plitz, with 20 jumping penalties and an overall total score of 82.90 to finish 15th individually.
“He was tired after running a long course and going for the time,” said Roberts, sympathetic to his horse’s effort. “It was also hot today. I thought he tried his heart out.”
It became apparent that the partisan Brazilian crowd planned to cheer loudly any time a member of the Canadian or American team, both ahead of Brazil in the team standings, incurred penalties. This was unnerving for horses and athletes alike.
The next team rider for Canada was Sandra Donnelly, 32, on her homebred Canadian Warmblood gelding Buenos Aires. A Calgary native, Donnelly was working on a smooth clear round until the last three fences. Fence number 10, an oxer, came down, as did the final obstacle, a liverpool.
In spite of adding some penalties to her score, she moved up one spot on the leader board from seventh to finish sixth with 69.70 points
Michael Winter, 32, was next on the show jumping course with Kingpin, an 11-year-old Irish Sport Horse owned by the Kingpin Syndicate. An unfortunate three rails, combined with four time faults, left him in eighth place individually with a score of 75.1. Winter was the top placed Canadian at the last Pan Am Eventing Championship, leading the team to the silver medal.
“2003 was my first team experience,” said Winter, noting that both Pan Am Games have been valuable experiences. “It was an important part of me growing as team athlete.
“Here it was more of an international experience. They are both very important points in my career, and both times I had great team mates.”
The last Canadian team rider to compete was Kyle Carter, a Calgarian who is currently based in Florida. Following the cross-country phase, Carter was tied with American Gina Miles for fourth place. Madison Park, a nine-year-old Thoroughbred gelding owned by Carter and Nicole Shinton, was the least experienced horse on the team.
Carter missed an opportunity at an individual medal when his horse brought rails down at two of the oxers on course, and gathered two time penalties. Finishing fifth individually with a final total of 66.30 penalty points, Carter was happy with the outcome of his second Pan Am Games team experience.
“He is a younger horse and I couldn’t be happier with him,” noted Carter, who also represented Canada at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, MB. “My primary focus was on the team. I wanted to make sure I didn’t risk our silver medal.”
Canada’s individual athlete in the competition, Jessica Phoenix, 23, of Uxbridge, ON, on her 10-year-old Thoroughbred gelding Exploring, had the best show jumping performance of all the Canadian eventing athletes. With just one fence down on course, she improved her placing from 15th after cross-country to 12th with 78.80 penalties.
“My horse is just amazing, and he jumped out of his skin for me,” said Phoenix, who was riding in her first major international competition.
The Canadian show jumping team comprised of Mac Cone of King City, ON; Jill Henselwood of Oxford Mills, ON; Eric Lamaze of Schomberg, ON; and Ian Millar of Perth, ON, won the slver medal and Olympic qualification on Friday, July 27 at the XV Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
“We had four super riders, and we came in with guarded optimism, knowing that the Brazilians would be tough to beat,” said Canadian show jumping team Chef d’Equipe Terrance Millar following the medal ceremony.
The second and final day of team show jumping competition began at 9 a.m. on Friday at the National Equestrian Centre, located 30 km north of the Pan American Village.
Having finished Thursday’s speed phase in first position, Canada had the luxury of being the last of ten teams to compete in the first of two rounds comprising the Nations’ Cup team final.
First in for Canada was Cone, 54, riding Melinda, a 13-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare owned by Southern Ways. A total of 12 jumping faults over Guilherme Jorge’s taxing course featuring obstacles set at a height of 1.50m would ultimately see Cone’s score dropped from the team tally where only the best three scores are counted.
Henselwood, 41, and Juniper Farms’ 13-year-old Oldenburg gelding Special Ed, the individual leaders following Thursday’s opening competition, added no points to their perfect score of zero by jumping clear over the 13 numbered obstacles featuring 16 jumping efforts.
Lamaze, 39, also repeated his performance from the first day, incurring four jumping faults in the first round on Hickstead, an 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood stallion owned by Torrey Pines Stables and Ashland Stables Inc.
Brazil had already posted three clear rounds to guarantee the lead by the time the fourth and final Canadian, eight-time Olympian Ian Millar, 60, set out with In Style. The 12-year-old Dutch-bred gelding owned by Susan Grange had a confident clear round that kept Millar second in the individual standings behind Henselwood.
At the end of round one, Canada had dropped into second place with a score of 6.72, just 1.05 points behind Brazil with 5.67 but with a comfortable lead over the third-placed United States with 19.20. After its third place finish on day one, Mexico lost considerable ground to slip to fourth position with 25.89.
The order of go changed in the second round to reflect the change in team standings, and the teams from Ecuador and Chile had been eliminated. Due to several retirements and eliminations, the starting list for the second round had shrunk from 47 horses to 39.
Cone improved on his first round performance with eight faults on Melinda, but Canada needed to be able to discard that score in order to secure the gold medal. Henselwood was not able to duplicate her perfect ride from the morning, taking a single rail with Special Ed and dropping to second position individually with a score of four points behind Brazil’s Pedro Veniss with 2.84.
Lamaze and Hickstead returned to post a clear round for Canada. Riding in the anchor position, Millar and In Style looked set to post a double clear round when In Style drifted left at fence nine and took down the front rail.
Adding just one rail from final rider Rodrigo Pessoa and Rufus to its score, Brazil claimed the gold medal before a home crowd with a score of 9.57. Canada claimed the silver with 14.72 while the United States, finishing with only three horses after Todd Minikus fell off Pavarotti at the water jump in the first round, took bronze with 27.20.
With its silver medal, Canada achieved its goal of qualifying a team for the 2008 Olympic Games, the equestrian portion of which will take place in Hong Kong due to equine health concerns in mainland China.
Brazil also earned its ticket, as did fourth-placed Mexico as the United States had already qualified with a silver medal at last year’s World Equestrian Games.
“We really needed to make sure we send a team to the Olympics, for the future of our sport,” said Henselwood.
Henselwood also won the individual gold medal in show jumping on Sunday, July 29, marking the first time in 24 years that a woman has claimed the honour.
Lamaze won the individual bronze medal, Millar settled for fourth, and Cone landed in 14th position.
Canada claimed the team silver medal in the equestrian sport of dressage on Sunday, July 15 at the XV Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The United States earned gold while the home country of Brazil claimed the team bronze.
After a tight race for the gold medal in the team competition, the United States pulled into the lead when its final team member competed on Sunday.
Canada had been in second place after its first rider, Tom Dvorak of Hillsburgh, ON, finished only one percentage point behind the U.S. team’s first competitor, Lauren Sammis, in the first half of the team competition held on Saturday, July 14.
On Sunday morning, the second of Canada’s three dressage riders, Diane Creech, 44, of Caistor Centre, ON, performed a harmonious test on the 10-year-old Hanoverian mare, Wiona, owned by Doug and Louise Leatherdale, to ultimately stand fifth individually with a score of 67.40%.
The second American competitor, Katherine Poulin-Neff riding Brilliant Too, then finished almost a point lower than Creech, putting Canada within reach of the gold medal.
Riding last for Canada was Andrea Bresee of Brockville, ON, on Raffles, a 13-year-old Swedish Warmblood mare owned by Gina Smith and Faith Berghuis. The test started out strong in the trot tour but there were small mistakes in the canter work that cost Bresee valuable points.
Having never represented her country in a major international championship before, Bresee, 32, had the added pressure of determining Canada’s final placing.
“No matter when I would have gone, I would have ridden the same way,” said Bresee, the youngest member of the Canadian dressage team. “My horse was very good for me today.”
Bresee’s score of 65.25% from the panel of five international judges placed her ninth individually, and left the door open for final American competitor, Christopher Hickey. Hickey took some risks with his horse, Regent, to finish the competition with the second best score and clinch the team gold medal for the United States.
Following the medal ceremonies, at which third placed Brazil received its first Pan Am dressage medal in 24 years, Canadian chef d’equipe Gwynne Rooke expressed her pleasure with Canada’s silver medal, saying, “We are very satisfied with the result. After many, many miles, we have achieved our ambition as a team.”
The journey to Rio de Janeiro has been a long one; the Canadian horses were required to spend ten days in quarantine in Miami, FL, before flying thousands of kilometers to compete at the XV Pan American Games.
A total of 26 horse and rider combinations from 12 countries competed in dressage at the 2007 Pan American Games. Seven countries fielded teams, while individuals represented an additional five countries.
