At the end of day one of dressage in the Deodoro Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro, Great Britain’s William Fox-Pitt holds the lead.
Reigning Olympic champion Michael Jung was expected to go top with his prolific winner Sam FBW, but the German rider had to settle for third after a few uncharacteristic mistakes.
Today’s result cemented a remarkable comeback for William, who suffered a serious head injury following a cross-country fall last October that left him in a coma.
“All along Rio has been my target, totally. It was unrealistic, but it was mine,” said William, 47. “I was in a coma for a couple of weeks and my sight was quite dodgy, I went from blind to seeing double so when I started jumping there were two jumps. It’s been a journey, but I’ve had so much support. Mentally I was very tired, I probably still am. I feel like I’m waking up, but slowly.”
Riding the 16-year-old stallion Chilli Morning, William netted a score of 37.00 pen to go ahead of Australia’s Christopher Burton (37.60 pen) and the beautiful-moving Santano II.
With Michael sitting in third with 40.90 pen and his team mate Sandra Auffarth in fourth with Opgun Louvo (41.60 pen), the Germans are currently lying in the team gold medal position at this early stage, with a score of 82.5 pen.
Australia is second, just 1.5 pen in arrears, while Britain are in the bronze position on 84.2 pen, thanks to William’s lead and a solid test by debutant Gemma Tattersall to score 47.20 pen.
But it’s still all to play for tomorrow when the third and fourth combinations from each team have their chance to compete tomorrow.
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