Individual, Open

The event was the same as in 1996 with qualifying consisting of three rounds, with the top 25 advancing to the final, with no more than three riders from any nation in the final. The final was again two rounds with the total score for both rounds to count. The favorite was Brazilian Rodrigo Pessoa, ranked #1 in the world and who, in April 2000, became the first rider ever to win three consecutive events in the World Cup. He led the qualifying, and then had a clean round in the first round of the final, tied with three other riders. Unfortunately, in round two, his horse, Baloubet du Rouet, balked and refused three times at obstacle seven, eliminating the pair.

This allowed two of the riders who had gone clean in round one, Jeroen Dubbeldam (NED) and Khaled Al-Eid (KSA) to tie with a total of 4.00 faults, joined by another Dutch rider, Albert Voorn, who had a clean ride in round two. The three jumped off to decide the medal and Dubbeldam again went clear to win the gold medal. Both Voorn and Al-Eid had four faults, but Voorn won the silver based on time, 44.72 to 44.86. Al-Eid’s bronze medal was the first ever won in equestrianism by Saudi Arabia. For Pessoa, he would get his gold medal, but would wait four years, winning at Athina in 2004.