Charlotte Goes for Gold (Olympics 2012)

GO LARGE.

BLIP-BEAR came too - someone behind me kindly took this pic of us together.

I've always thought how great it would be to see one of the equestrian events at the Olympics. Almost exactly 30 years ago when Dr. Reiner Klimke and Ahlerich won the World dressage gold, because of them I fell in love with dressage (and I fell in love with Ahlerich). They went on to win the '84 LA team and individual Olympic titles. It then became a dream of mine to see an Olympic dressage team or individual final - something I doubted could ever happen. When London was annouced for 2012 I was ecstatic - but there was still the matter of getting hold of a ticket. When I discovered that I'd actually been successful and had that elusive Individual finals ticket I realised at last my dream would come true. Dressage has in the past been something of an 'also ran' in this country - we've always concentrated on showjumping and eventing, where our strengths have been. Dressage was regarded as something of a 'wimps' discipline, a bit namby-pamby, when in fact it's anything but! So if someone had told me 5 years ago that as well as achieving that dream, I'd witness both the Individual gold and bronze going to British riders and horses I'd have told them to have their medication checked! Somehow though, we suddenly have a brilliant dressage situation in this country - not just individuals but a whole team - and so what I saw today was way beyond any dream I'd held!

The Olympic organisation was brilliant, I can't speak highly enough of how efficient it all was. Needless to say I took many photos. My blip is of Charlotte Dujardin, our gold medalist with Valegro, performing a beautiful extended canter down the centre line on their way to gold. As I'd expected the zoom on my camera wasn't up to really good close-up shots, so I combined direct shots with those taken from the big screen. I went with my camera battery fully charged, and miraculously it died just after the event finished. Phew!

On the brisk 15 minute or so walk from Greenwich station to Greenwich Park these 2 brilliantly funny women were determined to ensure everyone got into the spirit!

There were many imposing steps to climb up to the arena.

My first view of the arena through the pallisade of lovely Doric style columns was breathtaking!

The seating was quite comfortable but there wasn't much space!

I had a great view of the big screen.

There was a terrific view of Greenwich House with the Dome behind it.

Looking up behind me and seeing all the national flags was an amazing experience.

As for the actual performances:

Spain's Juan Manuel Munoz Diaz and the Andalusian stallion Fuego were superb. The short-coupled build of the three Iberian breeds (of which Andalucian is one) are perfect for the collected paces of the Classical school. Here they perform a lively textbook Half-pass, and the big screen shows how they could produce a truly elevated, correct Passage.

Anky van Grunsven of the Netherlands (winner of the individual gold at the last 3 Olympics, the last 2 riding Salinero who she rode here in London) performs a brilliant extended canter.

GBs Laura Bechtolscheimer on Mistral Horjis in Half-pass, and seen in close-up on the big screen performing a great Piaffe.

GBs Carl Hester and Uthopia (sadly no medal, not their best performance overall despite some great work in places) perform a truly collected and elevated Pirouette, and on the big screen demonstrating a superb extended canter.

Adelinde Cornelissen and Parzival of the Netherlands produced a brilliant test worthy of gold. Here they are in Passage, and on the screen performing a superb Half-pass.

GBs Charlotte Dujardin with Valegro were last to go and produced a wonderfully relaxed, bouyant and correct test, a joy to watch apart from one slight glitch towards the end. I was so enthralled watching it, I hardly took any photos of them! Here they are in Piaffe, and here's Charlotte saying a huge thank you to Valegro after the test.

It took a while for Charlotte and Valegro's score to be announced, but then it was they received a standing ovation!

The medal presentation was fantastic. Here are Charlotte (gold), Adelinde (silver) and Laura (bronze) on the podium with their medals and posies, and then posing for the press, after which they rode their lap of honour. Then Charlotte (left) and Laura (right) seemed to be saying "Look what we've got!"

Here are links to slideshows on PhotoBucket for all my photos from today:

General shots of getting there and the venue.

The performances.

Results reaction from Charlotte and the medals presentation.

It was an incredible day. As I went to leave I spent a long time leaning back on one of those Doric columns, just staring at the empty arena and savouring it all. I wanted to absorb it into my memory for posterity, as I know it's something I won't experience or see again ....
I'd left home at 8am, and arrived back at 9:45pm - shattered, exhilarated and still buzzing!