NO female rider has ever won the gold medal at the Olympic Games but will that all change next week?

Also never been done is one rider winning three consecutive gold medals, but that could also change next week. The eventing competition in Tokyo is undoubtedly going to be fascinating and the new format makes it beyond exciting.

The whole world is talking about Britain’s Laura Collett and her incredible five-star winning mount London 52. Laura has been through it all in the sport – from underage medals and Badminton top-10 finish highs, to a life-threatening fall which left her blind in one eye, to huge competitive disappointments before bouncing back to win Pau CCI5* last year and becoming one of the favourites for gold at the Olympic Games.

Getting picked was probably the hardest part for Collett who was competing with an incredible bunch of British athletes to get the nod for Tokyo. Eventing data analytic company EquiRatings have Collett as third favourite in the pre-competition prediction centre, with a 13% chance of winning and 29% chance of being on the podium.

London 52 is capable of scoring a 20 in the dressage and likely to leave the coloured poles standing. Cross-country has been his only weakness in the past but those problems have been put to bed of late.

The absence of German legend Ingrid Klimke leaves a hole in the German squad, but the other females that could challenge Laura to write that history include Klimke’s teammates Julia Krajewski, who rides the inexperienced Amande De B’neville, and Sandra Auffarth (Viamant Du Matz), both who were on the silver medal-winning team at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Jung magic

Germany’s Michael Jung is bidding to become the first person to win three consecutive gold medals on the bounce at an Olympic Games. He became Olympic champion in 2012 and 2016 with La Biosthetique Sam FBW.

He goes to Tokyo as favourite to defend his title with Chipmunk FRH who is being hailed as one of the classiest modern day event horses. Jung took over the ride on the 13-year-old gelding from Krajewski in early 2019 and their record has been outstanding since. They won silver at the 2019 European Championships in 2019. Their best finished score of 19.4 came in the CCI4*-S at Strzegom last July, while they have won all four international outings in 2021, including the German championships in Luhmühlen last month on a 21.4.

The aforementioned prediction centre give June and Chipmunk a 26% win rate, just ahead of Oliver Townend who makes his Olympic debut with the Irish Sport Horse Ballaghmor Class. The world number one and Courage II-sired grey gelding are fresh from winning the five-star at Kentucky in the spring, and also won Burghley in 2017, as well as finishing top five in four other five-stars.

Their best dressage score is 20.8 (Badminton 2018), and the Noel Hickey-bred is an exceptional cross-country horse. The final day is perhaps not his strongest but he is in with an excellent shout.

Standouts

Among the other notable stand out individuals is Britain’s third rider, Tom McEwen, who is the only member of the gold medal-winning 2018 WEG team to make it to Tokyo with Toledo de Kerser, who makes it three five-star winners on the team. The pair are capable of scoring a 23 in the dressage and Toledo is one of the most consistent jumpers in the game. They head to Tokyo after a classy CCI4*-S Bicton win last month.

Australia’s Andrew Hoy will be competing at his eighth Olympic Games at the age of 62 and rides the ultra-consistent Vassily de Lassos. They finished fourth individually at the WEG in 2018 and have not been outside the top six in their last nine international runs. Hoy made his Olympic debut in Los Angeles in 1984 at the age of 25. Tim and Jonelle Price team up for New Zealand and cannot be overlooked in the individual stakes either. Jonelle rides the 13-year-old ISH mare Grovine de Reve (Hermes de Reve x Rimilis, bred by Paddy and Maria Raggett), who finished third in the CCI5* at Kentucky earlier this year.

Cathal Daniels (Rioghan Rua) and Sam Watson (Tullabeg Flamenco), previewed on page 75, both have live chances of a medal which bodes well for the Irish team medal chances too.

Who win will the team medals in Tokyo? Click here to read about the favourites