Individual, Open

It became clear from an early point in the Olympic cycle that Germany had an overabundance of talent in dressage. The nation provided over half of the top 20 horse and rider combinations in the FEI’s top 20 rankings with Isabelle Werth alone listed with 4 separate horses in the top dozen. In many ways, competition between the German riders for a place on the team was harder than the Olympic Games itself. It seemed the only threat to the German riders was the delay in hosting the Games from 2020 to 2021, which may have pushed their horses past the peak of the career. This was proved not to be the case in Tokyo.

Riding to music from the Hollywood musical “LaLaLand”, Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and the horse TSF Dalera broke through the 90% mark for the first ever time in any competition to claim the Olympic title on her first attempt. The pair scored perfect 10s for their piaffe, transitions, and halt. Behind her came Werth and the remarkable 17-year-old Belle Rose. The horse had been aimed for the Rio Olympics, but injury kept her out of the sport for four years until making a triumphant comeback at the 2018 World Equestrian Games. Werth matched Aladar Gerevich and Birgit Fischer-Schmidt by winning gold medals in six Olympic Games with her part in the team victory. For Werth and Gerevich, this was achieved in consecutive Olympics.

The reigning champion Charlotte Dujardin had campaigned Mount Saint James Freestyle towards Tokyo, but the horse’s dislike for hot conditions caused her to replace the horse with a younger alternative, Gio, before the Games. She edged out Denmark’s Cathrine Dufour for the bronze medal. At the age of 66, Australia’s Mary Hanna was the oldest competitor in any sport at the Tokyo Olympics.