Team Gold for Germany in Nations Cup

It seemed like a walk in the park for Germany to win its third consecutive gold in Team Jumping with only two rails down in both rounds. The German win brought the fifth gold medal for Ludger BEERBAUM at his fifth Olympic Games.
 
The action at Markopoulo Olympic Equestrian Centre evolved into a jump off for silver and bronze between the USA and Sweden, both at 20 penalty points after two rounds.
 
Both contenders sent three riders over the shortened course and all stayed clear, but the USA riders were seven seconds ahead, winning with a total of 20 points and 131 seconds in the jump-off.
 
Thereby the USA claimed its fifth silver medal, leaving bronze for Sweden, the country's Olympic first medal in the event since 1928.
 
The bright flood light proved to be quite difficult for some horses, especially at the water fence and the "Greek coins", glittering in silver and gold colours.

Germany(Gold), USA (Silver) and Sweden(Bronze) - photo © Janus Communications

Germany's Ludger Beerbaum & Goldfever - photo © Athens2004

Ludger BEERBAUM (GER)
On the German team performance:
"We had a good day today and I think that everybody contributed to the success. We got support even from our reserve rider and Marcus EHNING whose horse got injured just before the Games and did not compete. Germany has strong horses and it is a country of equestrian tradition. It has a huge amount of horses, a large breeding industry, shows and riders. The combination of all this is the reason for our success. We presented our horses in good condition and fresh today. Everybody on the team did their work and we were lucky to win the medals."
 
On the case involving the German Eventing team:
"I really was annoyed with what happened with the German eventers, and disappointed, although it was not something I thought about today. I tried to be focused and it worked out well."
 
On riding his last round knowing that Germany had already won gold:
"When the team has already done well you go ahead feeling more confident and then the pressure is not so high. Looking back at both my rounds I realise that the second was better, more precise and accurate."
 
On the retirement of the French team:
"The French team was one of the favourites in these Games. They are the defending world champions and what happend to them today was quite disappointing, but this is the sport. It was just not the French day today. I heard that somebody started to blame the grass for the injury of the horses, but I do not think that there is any relation."
 
 
Marco KUTSCHER (GER)
On the case of German Eventing team: 
"We did spent a lot of time on this issue and we did not feel it was a nice issue. However there was no talk of revenge, that would be useless."
 
 
Olaf PETERSEN - Course Designer
On the course and the horses injuries
"In the first round we had two horses injured and in the second everything went well. I believe that the injuries had nothing to do with the dimensions of the course, neither with the quality of the ground. These kind of things happen in the sport."

Great Britain's Nick Skelton & Arko III- photo © Athens2004

Beezie MADDEN (USA) - team silver medallist
On how she managed to post a clear round going last and carrying all the pressure on her shoulders:
"At that time I didn't know our position so I didn't think about it. I knew that I needed to go clear if we wanted to make it. I was very confident after the warm up. I had a lot of faith in my horse and we made it."
 
 
Chris KAPPLER (USA) - team silver medallist
On how they managed a second round in the same day:
"We have been in Europe since June. We have been working a lot and we were looking forward to the Games. We are surrounded by a great coach and a lot of people who support us. We have done a lot of training for the last few months and sometimes we were riding two and three times a day. When the time came we felt ready."
 
On the recovery of his horse:
''He jumped very well today. He has recovered 100 percent so far and I hope he will be alright in the future. Today he seemed to handle pretty well."
 
 
McLain WARD (USA) - team silver medallist
On whether they had imagined that they would face the Swedish in a jump-off for medals:
''Actually we were hoping to face the Germans for the gold. It was a great day. We just happened to go a bit faster. From my part I'm happy I could contribute also to this success because Beezie (MADDEN) and Peter (WYLDE) were carrying us on their shoulders at the beginning."
 
 
Rolf-Goran BENGTSSON (SWE) - team bronze medallist
On why he didn't compete in the final jump off:
"We discussed with the Chef d'Equipe and decided that it was impossible to beat the time the Americans had already set. So we came to the conclusion that it was not necessary for me to go. I chose not to compete, even if I had it wouldn't have made any difference to the final result."
 
 
 
Peter ERIKSSON (SWE) - team bronze medallist
On the horse's form after today's two rounds and jump off:
"We were all aware of the competition schedule a long time ago. We were also prepared to deal with the heat. Actually this format is very nice. Normally we have to complete both rounds with a break of only half an hour between the two. Today it has been a long day for our horses, but they had a few of hours to rest during the day, between rounds."