Olympic dressage greats say horses worth weight in gold
TOKYO: Dressage greats Isabell Werth and Charlotte Dujardin may be favoured to have medals hung round their necks in the Olympic team and individual finals but they would be the first to argue their horses deserve one too.
German Werth will ride Bella Rose 2 and British star Dujardin the less experienced Gio in the team final on Tuesday and the individual event on Wednesday in Tokyo. Both are chasing history-making milestones. The 52-year-old Werth can become the first athlete to win seven equestrian gold medals.
For the moment Werth — who has a record Olympic equestrian medals haul of 10 in five Games — shares the record with another dressage rider, the late Reiner Klimke. Should Dujardin, 16 years Werth’s junior, retain her individual title she would join Dutch woman Anky van Grunsven in being the only rider to win it on three successive occasions.
If Team GB regain the team title, Dujardin could conceivably become the only British female athlete to have won five gold medals in any sport.
Medals Table
Country Gold Silver Bronze Total
Japan 8 2 3 13
United States 7 3 4 14
China 6 5 7 18
Russian Olympic Committee 4 5 3 12
Great Britain 3 3 1 7
South Korea 3 0 4 7
Australia 2 1 3 6
Kosovo 2 0 0 2
Italy 1 4 4 9
France 1 2 2 5
Canada 1 2 1 4
Hungary 1 1 0 2
Tunisia 1 1 0 2
Croatia 1 0 1 2
Slovenia 1 0 1 2
Austria 1 0 0 1
Ecuador 1 0 0 1
Hong Kong 1 0 0 1
Iran 1 0 0 1
Norway 1 0 0 1
Philippines 1 0 0 1
Thailand 1 0 0 1
Uzbekistan 1 0 0 1
Netherlands 0 3 0 3
Taiwan 0 2 2 4
Brazil 0 2 1 3
Georgia 0 2 0 2
Czech Republic 0 1 1 2
Indonesia 0 1 1 2
Serbia 0 1 1 2
Spain 0 1 1 2
Switzerland 0 1 1 2
Belgium 0 1 0 1
Bulgaria 0 1 0 1
Colombia 0 1 0 1
Denmark 0 1 0 1
India 0 1 0 1
Jordan 0 1 0 1
Romania 0 1 0 1
Germany 0 0 3 3
Kazakhstan 0 0 3 3
Egypt 0 0 2 2
Mongolia 0 0 2 2
Turkey 0 0 2 2
Ukraine 0 0 2 2
Estonia 0 0 1 1
Israel 0 0 1 1
Ivory Coast 0 0 1 1
Kuwait 0 0 1 1
Mexico 0 0 1 1
New Zealand 0 0 1 1
Article source: https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/869238-olympic-dressage-greats-say-horses-worth-weight-in-gold