It was worth the wait, all 48 years and 11 months of it. Great Britain’s eventers yesterday won Olympic team gold for the first time since September 1, 1972, and they did it in sublime style under the lights at Equestrian Park, closing out the dominant position they had built over two days of peerless dressage and cross-country.
They could lay Tokyo Tower on its side and still be nowhere near the winning margin secured by the world No 1, Oliver Townend, on Ballaghmor Class, Laura Collett, on London 52, and Tom McEwen, riding Toledo de Kerser. Australia were a massive 13.9 penalty points back in second. For context, the gap between the Rio gold and silver medallists, France and Germany, was 3.8 penalty points.
Britain’s most recent medal in the team event had been silver at London 2012, when Zara Phillips, the Queen’s granddaughter, was part of the group. Second place was similarly the outcome in Los Angeles, Seoul, Sydney and Athens.
For McEwen, who rents his Gloucestershire stables from Phillips’s mother, Princess Anne, herself no stranger to the big stage, there was to be another trip to the podium as the 30-year-old took silver in the individual, Britain’s first medal in the event since a 2008 bronze for Tina Cook. These are Team GB’s third and fourth equestrian medals of the Games, after the team dressage bronze and the third place in the individual event secured by Charlotte Dujardin on Gio, making her the country’s most decorated female Olympian.
All three British eventers have something substantial to show for their first appearance at the Olympics, and the majestic headline story had any number of subplots. Chief among them was Collett’s crowning glory after a horrific 2013 accident in which she suffered a multitude of injuries and was placed in an induced coma.
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Riding in the cross-country phase of an event, she was flung from her 110st horse, who fell on top of her, leaving her with a fractured shoulder, broken ribs, a lacerated liver, punctured lung and kidney damage. She had to be resuscitated five times in the ambulance, and it later emerged that a piece of her shoulder bone had made its way to her right eye via her bloodstream. She permanently lost the majority of her sight in that eye, with only “blurred vision” remaining in about a quarter of it.
Further grim misfortune arrived after Kauto Star, the legendary two-times Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, was sent to work with Collett at her yard after his retirement from racing. The former steeplechaser was adapting well, before complications from a freak 2015 accident resulted in him being euthanised. Collett was subjected to a campaign of abuse and innuendo about the circumstances of the incident, despite the fact she had been jumping at Hickstead when it happened.
It is far too trite to say it was all leading to this, but few better deserve their moment in the sun — or, at least, the glare of the floodlights.
“Just to be here was more than a dream come true and to be stood here, with a gold medal, I look back where I was eight years ago . . . I knew I was lucky to be alive let alone do the job I love,” Collett said.
“I don’t think it will be with a cup of tea and a biscuit,” Townend predicted of the celebrations. “[It’s] unreal, it still has not sunk in. Let’s hope we can inspire the next generation of kids. We are all from pretty normal backgrounds. It shows that hard work and dedication pays off.”
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Britain’s overnight lead of 17.9 meant there was a cushion to go with the inevitable tension as the group came back out. McEwen got them off to another great start, recording a clear round inside the time as the 23rd rider out.
Up next came Collett, and even with one down, the points gulf remained. This was the first time that London 52 had ever jumped under lights, and he recovered well after that early mishap.
“He was jumping mega, his normal self, and then just as I came around the corner and straightened up, I think the lights shone on the water and there was a bit of a reflection and he just suddenly started to draw back,” Collett said.
“There was no doubt that it [the fence] was coming down and luckily we didn’t come down as well. It could have been a disaster but luckily he thought quickly and put it behind him and we just carried on.”
With one fault, Townend also received four penalty points, but with such a commanding lead, Team GB were never going to be denied. They finished on 86.30: job done, and how.
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The Australians had a story to tell too, though, with their efforts being led by the 62-year-old Andrew Hoy, who has now featured at eight Games and is the oldest Olympic medallist since 1968, when Louis Noverraz, of Switzerland, won a sailing silver aged 66. Hoy later took individual bronze behind McEwen with Germany’s Julia Krajewski claiming gold.
“We have put in many hours from children to where we are now, it’s all paying off, we have all come together as a great team — [we’re] super excited to get the job done,” McEwen said.
It’s a complicated, expensive process even to get here, the horses being flown out two per stall with a support staff of vets and groomers. The stallions go to the front of the plane and the mares to the back to ensure there’s no funny business.
Collett’s horse, known back home as “Dan”, is one she sourced and developed herself. With no other financial backing, she had to persuade Karen Bartlett and Keith Scott to help her buy him from Germany five years ago. In so many ways, they brought it home yesterday.
British riders and their horses
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Oliver Townend
The most experienced member of the team at 38, Townend first decided he wanted to be a rider aged seven. Born near Huddersfield, the son of a milkman — and event rider — he left school at 16 to pursue those ambitions. He is the world No 1 and has claimed three of equestrianism most prestigious prizes at Badminton, Burghley and Kentucky. His career has not been without its setbacks: in 2010 he had to be airlifted from Kentucky after his horse fell on top of him, breaking several bones, meaning that he missed out on a historic grand slam. “When I was young, I was told so often that I wasn’t the sort of person who could be one — I still feel that I have to prove people wrong,” he told Populous Magazine.
Horse: Ballaghmor Class
Described as a “special horse” by Townend, the Irish-bred gelding has previously won at Burghley and Kentucky.
Laura Collett
Gold tasted sweet for Collett given that she survived a brush with death eight years ago. She was placed in a coma for six days in 2013 after falling at an event in Hampshire. She suffered a number of serious injuries, along with the loss of sight in one eye. The 31-year-old returned against the odds, although it wasn’t until October that she claimed her first five-star win at Pau, France, that earned her an Olympic spot.
Horse: London 52
The German-bred gelding known by his stable name “Dan” has not always been at his best in Tokyo, but Collett describes him as “an exciting horse” with a bright future.
Tom McEwen
McEwen, 30, has significant equestrian experience in his family — his mother Ali was a showjumper, his father Bobby is a vet, and his sister Ella has ridden for the British pony team. Tokyo isn’t the first time McEwen has tasted success as part of a British team – he was a member of the outfit who won gold at the 2018 World Equestrian Games. He followed that up with his first five-star win at Pau in October 2019.
Horse: Toledo de Kerser
The French-bred horse relishes the big occasion, according to McEwen, and the pair have built an impressive bond.
