Olympics 2012: Guerdat is Golden in Individual Jumping Final, Schroder Scores the Silver, and O'Connor Bags the Bronze

Olympics 2012: Guerdat is Golden in Individual Jumping Final
Schroder Scores the Silver, and O'Connor Bags the Bronze

In another dramatic final for individual show jumping medals, several of the nations which had been disappointed in the team competition found a lot to cheer about after the last fence had been jumped.

Steve Guerdat, who had been one of the favorites for an individual medal, did not let his fans down.

He had some rails during the team competition, but qualified to make it through to the final where all the riders start out with a clean score sheet. He was the only rider to go clear in the last two rounds which were big and technical.

And then there was a tie for the silver medal which meant a jump-off. Gerco Schroder rode very well during the games on his chestnut stallion aptly named London. He was key in the Netherlands team silver effort and going first in the individual silver jump-off he jumped a clear and thrifty round which put all the pressure on Cian O'Connor who, riding as an individual for Ireland, had just squeaked into the individual final when Rolf-Goran Bengston of Sweden withdrew.

Schroder's round meant that O'Connor could only have one option - go very fast and clear. And he almost got it, just pulling the last rail.

O'Connor only made it to the Olympics at all because Denis Lynch was pulled when his horse was deemed hyper-sensitive at one of the competition just before the Olympics started. Ireland had not been able to qualify a team for the Olympics and had been assigned two individual slots, so O'Connor had an interesting lead-up to the Games, only making it at each step when someone else dropped out and he excelled.

There was certainly disappointment for the British as three of their Golden team members had moved forward into the individual final and hopes were high for more medals, but it wasn't meant to be: Ben Maher finished with 8 faults in a tie for 9th, while Scott Brash had a clear first round but 4 in the second - he ended up tied with Nick Skelton and Alberto Michan (Mex) for 5th place. Nick Skelton had been strongly favored for a medal with his super young horse Big Star - and they so nearly delivered only having one rail in the entire 5 rounds of the competition.

Both the USA and Canada didn't have the Olympics they had hoped for: McLain Ward and Eric Lamaze each had 12 faults in the first individual round and didn't move forward into the second. Rich Fellers had a rail and 1 time fault in the first round, while Ian Millar had 4 faults - both went forward to the second round where Millar had another 4 faults ending in tie for 9th place and Fellers had an emphatic clear which put him into 8th.

The only equestrian competition left in these 2012 Olympics will be the individual dressage final tomorrow.

Individual Ranking After Round B

After 22 Riders
Rk	Bib	Athlete	Horse	Pen. Points	+
1	371	GUERDAT S	NINO DES BUISSONNETS	0	+
=2	364	SCHRODER G	LONDON	1	+
=2	348	O'CONNOR C	BLUE LOYD 12	1	+
4	357	BAHAMDAN K	NOBLESSE DES TESS	2	+
=5	360	MICHAN A.	ROSALIA LA SILLA	4	+
=5	338	BRASH S	HELLO SANCTOS	4	+
=5	341	SKELTON N	BIG STAR	4	+
8	386	FELLERS R	FLEXIBLE	5	+
=9	323	MILLAR I	STAR POWER	8	+
=9	340	MAHER B	TRIPPLE X	8	+
=9	363	HOUTZAGER M	TAMINO	8	+
=12	384	RIVETTI C	TEMPLE ROAD	9	+
=12	315	AFFONSO DE MIRANDA	RAHMANNSHOF'S BOGENO	9	+
=12	373	SCHWIZER P	CARLINA IV	9	+
=12	334	GUILLON O	LORD DE THEIZE	9	+
=12	344	EHNING M	PLOT BLUE	9	+
=17	370	ESTERMANN P	CASTLEFIELD ECLIPSE	10	+
=17	368	DINIZ L	LENNOX	10	+
19	333	DELESTRE S	NAPOLI DU RY	12	+
=20	330	BLUMAN D	SANCHA	13	+
=20	305	TOPS-ALEXANDER E	ITOT DU CHATEAU	13	+
22	317	PESSOA R	REBOZO	17	+