HORSE SPORT IRELAND'S MERVELDT COMPETES IN THURSDAY'S DRESSAGE GRAND PRIX

Source: News Release/Colin McClelland

IRELAND'S MERVELDT COMPETES IN THURSDAY'S DRESSAGE GRAND PRIX

THE first inspection of the Olympic Dressage horses at Greenwich took place yesterday evening, and all 50 were given the thumbs up to start. Tomorrow morning (2 August) Dressage action gets underway at 11.00am, when Denmark’s Anne van Olst and Clearwater are first into the arena for the Grand Prix.

Ireland is represented at London by Anna Merveldt and her 16 year-old Bavarian Warmblood gelding Coryolano.

A veteran of top-level championships events, Merveldt broke through in the Barcelona Olympics of 1992 when she qualified for the top 16 with Rapallo and went on to place 11th in the individual rankings. The following year she was 9th individually at the European Championships in Lipica and then took 6th place in the individual rankings in World Equestrian Games in The Hague.

She placed 13th in the European Championships in Verden in 1997 and 14th at the same venue in the Europeans in 2001. On the international circuit Anna has had many wins, including Arnhem, Frauenfeld, Munich, Milan, Rotterdam and Spangenberg and on no less than eight occasions was a recipient of the Irish Field (newspaper) Dressage Rider of the Year Award. She is one of only two Irish riders to be awarded the German NF Deutsche Goldenes Reitabzeichen (Golden Riders' Medal).

Merveldt also competed at the European Championships in La Mandria Italy in 2007 as well as the Europeans in Windsor in 2009, where she qualified for the Grand Prix Special, and Rotterdam in 2011, all with Coryolano.

She is drawn 14th to compete at the opening Grand Prix, and will be in the arena at 13.25 tomorrow (Thursday). Merveldt will be hoping for a score in the high 60s to take her through to the Grand Prix Special on August 7th.

In a change to the previous format, the team medals will be decided by the combined scores of the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Special. The top 18 horse-and-rider combinations, and those tied for 18th place, will then qualify for the Freestyle Final which is a stand-alone competition from which the individual Olympic champion will emerge.

The Grand Prix will run over two days, Thursday 2nd and Friday 3rd August and the top seven of the 10 competing nations will qualify for the Grand Prix Special team medal-decider on August 7. The Freestyle Final will bring the equestrian events at London 2012 to a close on Thursday August 9.

Meanwhile, as the event horses have now departed from Greenwich Park, their stables are being filled by the show jumpers, who will be presented for the first horse inspection at 17.00 tomorrow evening (Thursday). Ireland is represented by Cian O'Connor and Billy Twomey.