Equestrian Jumping at the 2004 Summer Olympics

Jumping competition at the 2004 Olympics took place at the newly built Markopoulo Olympic Equestrian Centre on the outskirts of Athina, a venue that could hold between 8,000 and 15,000 spectators depending on the event being held. Qualification for the Games was earned by performances at the World Equestrian Games and continental championships and by the FEI world rankings.

The equestrian competitions at the 2004 Athina Olympics provided many contentious moments, as of the six events, only in the two dressage events did the original champions get to keep their gold medals. A mixture of positive dope tests and rulings from the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) meant that the final results for a number of events were not ratified until well after the Games had ended.

Individual jumping and the Grand Prix de Nations were held at the 2004 Olympics, but they were conducted as separate competitions. The individual jumping’s first two qualifying phases started the jumping, followed by the Grand Prix de Nations, and the final round of jumping was contested on the final day of equestrianism in Athina. The events were won by Brazil’s Rodrigo Pessoa and the United States’ team.

Individually, Ireland’s Cian O’Connor was thought to be the winner, but his horse Waterford Crystal had a positive doping test, and O’Connor was disqualified with Pessoa moving up to the gold medal position. In the team event, Germany seemed to be the gold medalists, but Ludger Beerbaum’s horse Goldfever 3 had a doping positive. Beerbaum was disqualified and with his scores deleted, Germany dropped down to a bronze medal, with the United States moving up to gold.