Individual, Men

The three-day event came down to Dutch riders who took three of the top four places, with only Germany’s Bruno Neumann, who won bronze, breaking up their monopoly. The leader after the dressage was Gerard de Kruijff, just ahead of his teammate Charles Pahud de Mortanges. In the endurance phase, neither was among the top leaders, but Pahud de Mortanges moved into a narrow lead going into the jumping. Both Dutch riders had a perfect score of 300.0 in the jumping phase, which allowed Pahud de Mortanges to maintain his lead and win the gold medal. He would return in 1932 and defend his gold medal in Los Angeles, and would compete again in Berlin, but would not finish the event. Both he and de Kruijff had competed at Paris in 1924, winning gold medals in the team three-day event. De Kruijff rode Va-t-en in 1928, who belonged to Pahud de Mortanges, as de Kruijff’s regular horse, Kakkerlak, was injured shortly before the Amsterdam Olympics.

Pahud de Mortanges had an interesting life. In 1938 he sustained a serious wrist injury, almost causing his hand to be amputated. In 1942 he was taken as a prisoner-of-war but escaped in 1943 by jumping out of a train and travelling to Gibraltar. He took part in the Normandy landings as a major, and was later made Chief of H. M. Military House from 1954-62. He was also President of the Dutch NOC in 1946-51 and 1959-64.