Olympics 2012: Second Day Surprises

Olympics 2012: Second Day Surprises

What an amazing day of show jumping!

Some of the strong teams are jumping on form, some suprises have moved to the top, and some of the strong favorites have fallen short. One thing is for sure: There will be a lot of jumping tomorrow and there are a lot of teams who could till take home medals.

Leading going into the final is Saudi Arabia on a score of 1 time fault. The Saudis have been aiming for these Olympics for several years - they have bought top horses and have shown at major shows in Europe and North America to get increased mileage at the top level of the sport. All that has paid off as they had two riders with clear rounds, and one with a single time fault enabling them to drop the fourth rider's 4 faults.

There is a huge traffic jam in the second slot. Four teams finished on four faults: Great Britain, The Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland. British riders Nick Skelton and Ben Maher both had textbook clear rounds. Scott Brash had the last fence down while Peter Charles, who had had a dreadful round in the first qualifier, came back with a much improved round, but still had two mistakes for the drop score of 8 faults. Skelton gets a lot of backing as a contender for an individual medal - so far, he's looking great.

For Sweden, their lead-off rider had 8 faults - one being at the water which caught out a number of riders - but the rest of the team rallied - both Henrik von Eckermann and Rolf-Goran Bengtsson, who is also highly favored for an individual medal, had beautiful clear rounds.

The Netherlands started off with a bang in the first qualifier - all four of their riders were clear. Today's course caught the lead-off rider, Jur Vrieling, for 8 faults but both Maikel van der Vleuten and Marc Houtzager were clear while Gerco Schroder and his aptly named horse, London, held on for a 4 fault score.

The Swiss leadoff rider, Steve Guerdat - another considered for an individual medal - had a rail at the tricky red mail boxes & Penny Black stamp vertical which is on an optional distance following a very substantial triple bar. It could be ridden as a steady six or a forward five and came down for a number of competitors. Then Pius Schwizer and Paul Estermann each contributed a clear round which allowed Werner Muff's 4 faults to be discarded.

There were mixed fortunes for Team Canada. While their combined score of 5 faults is positive - 4 faults from Jill Henselwood followed by a single time fault for Eric Lamaze and a textbook clear from Ian Millar - unfortunately Tiffany Foster has been disqualified from the competition, reportedly because her horse showed senstitivity. Horses are now screened for sensitive reactions on their lower legs which can be caused by hitting a rail or by sensitizing agents - apparently in her case it is not considered to be a sensitizing agent. Of course, this means that Canada will not have a discard score.

Still within reach of the top on eight faults are Brazil and the USA. One of the Brazilian riders did not start, so all three scores had to count: A clear from Alvaro Affonso de Miranda Neto with four faults each from Jose Robert Reynoso Fernandez Filho and Rodrigo Pessoa.

The USA saw four faults from both team stalwarts, McLain Ward and Beezie Madden. Madden, who had been eliminated from the first qualifier and whose score will not count in the individual standings, was able to come back with a solid performance from Via Volo. Ward had a beautiful ride, but a foot in the water marred the round. Young Reed Kessler certainly faced an intimidating course with poise, but had an eight-fault round and the team was able to discard that score when Rich Fellers put in an emphatic clear round with the truly amazing Flexible.

Mexico has some experienced riders with good horses and finished with 10 faults. Germany and Australia both had 12 faults. For Australia this wasn't a bad performance at the Olympics, but for Germany this had to have been very disappointing. France is even further down the leader board with 14 faults. Only the top eight teams went through to the team final.

Individual Ranking After Qualifier 2

After 71 Riders
Rk	Bib	Athlete	Horse	Pen. Points	+
=1	341	SKELTON N	BIG STAR	0 Q	+
=1	354	AL SAUD HPA	DAVOS	0 Q	+
=1	340	MAHER B	TRIPPLE X	0 Q	+
=1	305	TOPS-ALEXANDER E	ITOT DU CHATEAU	0 Q	+
=1	360	MICHAN A.	ROSALIA LA SILLA	0 Q	+
=1	315	AFFONSO DE MIRANDA	RAHMANNSHOF'S BOGENO	0 Q	+
=1	365	VAN DER VLEUTEN M	VERDI	0 Q	+
=1	370	ESTERMANN P	CASTLEFIELD ECLIPSE	0 Q	+
=1	363	HOUTZAGER M	TAMINO	0 Q	+
=1	378	VON ECKERMANN H	ALLERDINGS	0 Q	+
=1	386	FELLERS R	FLEXIBLE	0 Q	+
=1	376	BENGTSSON RG	CASALL	0 Q	+
=13	330	BLUMAN D	SANCHA	1 Q	+
=13	322	LAMAZE E	DERLY CHIN DE MUZE	1 Q	+
=15	357	BAHAMDAN K	NOBLESSE DES TESS	2 Q	+
=15	353	AL DUHAMI R	BAYARD VAN DE VILLA THERE	2 Q	+
=17	351	SUGITANI T	AVENZIO	4 Q	+
=17	323	MILLAR I	STAR POWER	4 Q	+
=17	389	WARD M	ANTARES	4 Q	+
=17	371	GUERDAT S	NINO DES BUISSONNETS	4 Q	+
=17	345	MEYER JF	LAMBRASCO	4 Q	+
=17	318	REYNOSO FERNANDEZ	MAESTRO ST LOIS	4 Q	+
=17	336	STAUT K	SILVANA	4 Q	+
=17	372	MUFF W	KIAMON	4 Q	+
=17	364	SCHRODER G	LONDON	4 Q	+
=17	310	LANSINK J	VALENTINA VAN 'T HEIKE	4 Q	+
=27	384	RIVETTI C	TEMPLE ROAD	5 Q	+
=27	344	EHNING M	PLOT BLUE	5 Q	+
=27	317	PESSOA R	REBOZO	5 Q	+
30	333	DELESTRE S	NAPOLI DU RY	6 Q	+
=31	368	DINIZ L	LENNOX	8 Q	+
=31	301	LAROCCA JM	ROYAL POWER	8 Q	+
=31	348	O'CONNOR C	BLUE LOYD 12	8 Q	+
=31	361	PIZARRO N	CROSSING JORDAN	8 Q	+
=31	304	PATERSON-ROBINSONJ	LANOSSO	8 Q	+
=31	303	HARGREAVES J	VEDOR	8 Q	+
=31	381	NAGEL B	NIACK DE L'ABBAYE	8 Q	+
=31	338	BRASH S	HELLO SANCTOS	8 Q	+
=31	366	VRIELING J	BUBALU	8 Q	+
=31	377	FREDRICSON J	LUNATIC	8 Q	+
=31	311	LE JEUNE P	VIGO D'ARSOUILLES	8 Q	+
=31	312	WATHELET G	CADJANINE Z	8 Q	+
=31	347	MICHAELS-BEERBAUM	BELLA DONNA	8 Q	+
=31	309	DEMEERSMAN D	BUFERO VAN HET PANISHOF	8 Q	+
=31	334	GUILLON O	LORD DE THEIZE	8 Q	+
=31	373	SCHWIZER P	CARLINA IV	8 Q	+
=47	314	TERCEIRA J	BERNADIEN VAN WESTUUR	9 R	+
=47	321	HENSELWOOD J	GEORGE	9 R	+
=47	335	LEPREVOST P	MYLORD CARTHAGO	9 R	+
=47	387	KESSLER R	CYLANA	9 R	+
=51	332	EL ZOGHBY K	WERVEL WIND	10 R	+
=51	356	SHARBATLY AW	SULTAN	10 R	+
=53	331	DIAZ R	ROYAL VINCKENBURG	11 R	+
=53	326	COUVE CORREA T	UNDERWRAPS	11 R	+
=53	359	FERNANDEZ F	VICTORIA	11 R	+
=56	349	TWOMEY B	TINKA'S SERENADE	12 R	+
=56	329	MILTHALER C	HYO ALTANERO	12	+
58	382	OFFEL K	VIVANT	16	+
59	328	PAROT S	AL CALYPSO	17	+
60	308	RAHIMOV J	WARRIOR	18	+
61	325	CARRASCO R	OR DE LA CHARBONIERE	22	+
62	380	HAMCHO AS	WONDERBOY	30	+
-	320	FOSTER T	VICTOR	DSQ	+

Team Ranking after Round 1

Rank	Team	Penalty Points	+
1	Saudi Arabia	1	+
=2	Great Britain	4	+
=2	Netherlands	4	+
=2	Sweden	4	+
=2	Switzerland	4	+
6	Canada	5	+
=7	Brazil	8	+
=7	United States	8	+
9	Mexico	10	+
=10	Australia	12	+
=10	Germany	12	+
12	France	14	+
13	Belgium	16	+
14	Ukraine	21	+
15	Chile	22	+