LAST Sunday’s spectacular closing ceremony brought the first South American-hosted Olympics to an end and though the rainstorm may have put a dampener on the kaleidoscope of Brazilian pageantry for some spectators, the highlights outweighed the weather.

The same applied to selecting the equestrian highlights of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games when the highs outnumbered the lows.

With Irish achievements lauded in recent weeks, the aim at any Games is a medal and if the medal gods read scripts, they delivered gold with a flourish for Michael Jung, Charlotte Dujardin and Nick Skelton.

There were several deserving contenders for a storybook gold medal, including Mark Todd at his seventh Olympics; plus William Fox-Pitt and Shane Rose, who battled back from serious injuries - however, Skelton’s gold medal was perhaps the greatest comeback in several ways, having recovered from a broken neck and gone back to a sport he retired from. His expression, as the Union Jack flag was raised, was unforgettable.

That was the second time the British national anthem rang out around Deodoro as earlier in the week Charlotte Dujardin won back-to-back individual gold medals with Valegro, now on the verge of retirement. There is no doubt that both the background story and ongoing achievements of the bubbly Dujardin and the record-breaking horse, produced by her since he was a youngster, has done the most to raise the profile of dressage both in the UK and abroad.

And then there was Michael Jung, who the dictionary has run out of superlatives to describe. Reserve horses being called up was another recurring theme of these Games but when Jung has a horse like the enigmatic La Biosthetique Sam FBW on call, they were also on target for a London-Rio double. Even the seemingly invincible German pair looked under threat to retain their crown but a masterful double clear in the final show jumping phase sealed their place in Olympic history.

credit

The second highlight was watching not only world-class riders but the backstage crew and supporters, who rarely get the credit they deserve.

From the grooms whose lives revolve around their horses, the owners who foot the bills, the fans who travelled from around the world purely for the love of their sport and the army of volunteers, again many who travelled to Brazil at their own expense, who kept the Games ticking over, they are the unsung heroes of the Olympics and the equestrian world. If there was one person who summed up sportsmanship and national pride at the Games, it was Brazilian event rider Ruy Fonseca. He became the unofficial spokesperson of what hosting the Olympics meant both to Brazil and the future of equestrianism there, appearing frequently on television and always with a smile.

Even when his horse Tom Bombadill Too applied the brakes in the show jumping course and he landed head first on the ground, his response was to jump back on his feet, replace the pole and shake hands with the arena party. That’s what every sport needs and the spectators, including the all-chanting, all-cheering home crowd, appreciated him.

negative publicity

The lows of the equestrian sports at these Olympics include having four riders eliminated for overuse of spurs/whip. And negative publicity, added to the substantial logistics, expense and regulations involved in having four-legged athletes at the Olympics, does not help the greater cause.

Then there was the ‘Bullets Over Deodoro’ incidents, however on the whole, the level of armed security on duty at the Games and around the city made London seem like the community games in comparison.

Unfortunately, from an Irish perspective, the greatest amount of negative publicity was generated by the scandal involving the alleged sale of tickets by some OCI members. Images of OCI president Pat Hickey’s arrest at his hotel have received as much airtime on Brazilian news as US swimmer Ryan Lochte’s fabricated story about he and his friends being robbed at gunpoint.

Overall though, the positives far outweighed the negatives at the Games that overcame the odds.