Individual, Men

The Three-Day event, in 1924 also known as the Championnat Équestre (Equestrian Championship), was won by Dutch lieutenant Adolf van der Voort van Zijp. He commenced his ride to the gold with second place in the dressage, which was conducted in a near-empty Stade de Colombes.

The most important part of the competition was the cross-country, which accounted for 70% of the points. The endurance course consisted of the following sections: 7 km road and tracks in the Bois de Boulogne at 240 m/min; 4 km steeplechase on the racetrack of Auteuil at 550 m/min; 15 km roads and tracks in the Bois de Boulogne at 240 m/min; 8 km cross-country in the Bois de Meudon at 450 m/min, with 36 obstacles up to 1.15m high, 3.50m wide; and 2 km free gallop in Villacoublay at 333 m/min. It turned out to be somewhat of a chaos. Van der Voort van Zijp fell back to 27th position, but the Dutch team protested after it appeared his times had been inadvertently swapped with another rider. The corrected results put him in second place, and first overall. The accuracy of the timing equipment was also generally doubted, with only two of 45 participants finishing within the time limit. The Swedish rider Lewenhaupt stumbled over an oxer, and his horse Cauter had to be put down.

Van der Voort van Zijp’s first place was not endangered in the jumping competition, as he cleared all obstacles for maximum points. His gold medal was the first equestrian medal at the Olympic Games for the Netherlands. Van der Voort van Zijp was later climbed to the rank of Cavalry Inspector. He fought at the Grebbeberg stronghold during the German invasion in 1940, and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner of war.