Team, Open

In 1912 and 1920 team and individual jumping were separate competitions, but they had been held concurrently since 1924, until 1960 when they were once again held as separate events. The teams consisted of three persons with all three scores in two rounds to count towards the team score. The event was the final one of the 1960 Olympics and was held at the Stadio Olimpico. Of the 18 starting teams, only six nations had three riders complete both rounds. Germany, the defending gold medalist, was an easy winner of the competition, leading after the first round, and posting the best team score in both rounds to win the gold medal. The United States won the silver medal. Italy had the top two finishers in the individual jumping, with the D’Inzeo brothers. Raimondo had the best individual performance in the team jumping, with only 8 total faults, but Piero struggled and Italy could only win a bronze medal. Germany would again win gold in this event at Tokyo in 1964, winning for the third consecutive Olympics.

German rider Fritz Thiedemann was aboard Meteor, as he had been in 1952 and 1956. Meteor was thus part of medals at three Olympics, as Thiedemann won the individual gold in 1952 and team golds in 1956-60, making Meteor the first horse to win medals at three Olympic Games. Meteor was a bay gelding who was foaled on 12 May 1943. He also carried riders to victories at the 1958 European Championships, the 1954 King George V Gold Cup, and at four Nations Cups. He was retired after the 1961 Grand Prix of Aachen. Meteor died in 1966 and was buried at the Reit- und Fahrschule in Elmshorn, Germany, the headquarters of the Holsteiner breed society.