Team, Men

The team dressage competition consisted of “passive scoring,” in which each team’s score was obtained simply by adding together the scores of their riders from the individual event. There were only three teams entered in the dressage competition – France, Sweden, and the United States – so they were all guaranteed medals. As French riders – Xavier Lesage and Charles Marion – had finished 1-2 in the individual event, France easily won the gold medal. Sweden won silver, led by Bertil Sandström, who originally placed second in the individual event. But Sandström was disqualified after protests from the French and Americans, who claimed he had made clicking noises to give instructions to his horse. Sandström claimed the noises were from a creaking saddle, but the protests was upheld and he was placed last individually. However, in what can charitably be called an unusual ruling, his score was allowed to count with no deduction for the team event, allowing Sweden to receive the silver medal.