Day 11: Anky Van Grunsven Makes History With 3rd Consecutive Gold

August 19, 2008

Anky Van Grunsven of the Netherlands made history today when she won her third consecutive Olympic gold medal in individual dressage. And after watching her Freestyle, I can see why.

Anky and Salinero were beautifully choreographed and did a phenomenal job staying in rhythm with the music. Their transitions were beautiful. They nailed the piaffes and canter pirouttes. Her trot work was near flawless. While Anky isn’t my favorite rider to watch because she’s a little too stiff and active for my taste, her horse was so breathtaking that I didn’t notice her anyway. I wasn’t as impressed with Anky and Salinero’s Special, but their Freestyle laid any doubts to rest. They scored an impressive 82.4 to take the gold.

Isabell Werth, who also had a great Freestyle other than another major balk, took silver while Heike Kemmer took bronze. Both are from Germany, who won gold in the team dressage event. I very much enjoyed watching Isabell and Satchmo; I could truly watch them all day. However, something is wrong with the judging when they score a 78 despite a major balk during their trot work. I’m not sure how you can walk away with a silver after having major disobedience issues in both the Special and the Freestyle. Heike and Bonaparte were fun to watch with their less traditional music that included “Good Vibrations,” “So Happy Together,” and “All the Leaves are Brown.” There were a few too many musical transitions that made the Freestyle feel a little choppy, but Heike’s movements were well choreographed to match.

Steffen Peters of the USA ended up in fourth just out of the medals with Ravel. He had a good test, but it wasn’t quite the caliber of Anky’s or Isabell’s, although very enjoyable to watch. Most of the moves were very well done, but Ravel started out a little squirrely in his canterwork. Nonetheless, Steffen looked very happy with his ride and with his horse.

The final individual standings are:

1 Anky Van Grunsven (Salinero), Netherlands
2 Isabell Werth (Satchmo), Germany
3 Heike Kemmer (Bonaparte), Germany
4 Steffen Peters (Ravel), USA
5 Hans Peter Minderhould (Nadine), Netherlands
6 Alexandra Korelova (Balagur), Russia
7 Emma Hindle (Lancet), Great Britain
8 Kyra Kyrklund (Max), Finland
9 Bernadette Pujals (Vincent), Mexico
10 Jan Brink (Briar), Sweden
11 Andreas Helgstrand (Don Schufro), Denmark
12 Tinne Silfven (Solos Carex), Sweden
13 Courtney King-Dye (Harmony’s Mythilus), USA
14 Ashley Holzer (Pop Art), Canada
15 Nathalie Zu Sayn-Wittgenstein (Digby), Denmark

The equestrian events of the 2008 Olympics are almost finished up. The final day will be the individual show jumping on Thursday, August 21. Catch it live online Thursday morning at 7:15 pm, or on NBC from 10am-1pm.

• Complete Olympic rider orders of go, Hong Kong time schedules, and results with scores
• Complete Olympic Equestrian TV schedule for the US
• Complete Olympic Equestrian live online schedule for the US
• More coverage including rider profiles, news, Olympic equestrian overviews and more
• Daily results for Olympic equestrian competition
• Watch videos of all Olympic equestrian competition on NBCOlympics.com
• How Olympic Dressage Works - format and rules

Posted in 2008 Olympics, Dressage