Individual, Open

There seemed little doubt that Michael Jung would become the first rider to retain an Olympic title in this event since 1988. After all, Jung had won the last three European Championships, was world ranked at number one and was the holder of all three of the sport’s Grand Slam events. The only title Jung did not hold was that of the 2014 World Equestrian Games where he won silver behind compatriot Sandra Auffarth.

Jung was fifth after the dressage with William Fox-Pitt (GBR) leading the field ahead of Australia’s Christopher Burton. Fox-Pitt had only just recovered from a serious head injury suffered in an event in France in October 2015 which left him in a coma for two weeks. The Briton’s chance of a fairy tale victory was lost with a refusal on the cross-country phase. The leaders after the cross-country were the only three combinations to have ridden clear and inside the time limit. Burton led the field ahead of Jung and Astier Nicolas of France, with 1984 and 1988 champion Mark Todd of New Zealand just behind them and threatening to win a medal at age 60. Sadly for Todd, a nightmare first round of jumping removed him from contention and Burton also suffered disappointment as he dropped from first to third.

In the final phase of jumping Phillip Dutton of the USA produced a clear round which meant that he overtook Burton and won his first Olympic medal for 16 years - but the gold was to be decided between Jung and Nicolas. First up was Nicolas who hit a rail down and was marginally over the time allowed as well. This meant Jung would win as long as he did not have two fences down – something that never looked like happening. At the 2012 London Games, Jung became the first gold medallist to finish an Olympic eventing competition on his dressage score. They repeated that performance in Brazil with another perfect round in the final show jumping phase.