NZ Eventers win bronze medals at WEG - WEG News from Kentucky

<img src="http://www.main-events.co.nz/pictures/TeamBronze.jpg" style="margin-top: 8px; margin-right: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 8px; height: 332px; width: 500px; " align="" title="NZ Eventers win Bronze medal at WEG. Photo Diana Dobson." alt="NZ Eventers win Bronze medal at WEG. Photo Diana Dobson.">   Left to right - Mark Todd, Clarke Johnstone, Andrew Nicholson, Erik Duvander & Caroline Powell. New
Zealand's eventers are celebrating tonight after winning two bronze medals at
the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky.
 
Veteran rider Andrew Nicholson, aboard his lovely
chestnut Nereo (owned by Libby Sellar) won his first individual medal at World
Games level. 
 
The
Kiwi effort today qualified New Zealand for eventing at the 2012 Olympic Games
in London.
 
Nicholson has been part of plenty a team winning
performance at both Olympic and World Games level, but individual glory has long
escaped him. He was ecstatic with the result but said he'd arrived in Kentucky
with a good feeling.
 
“This
is the first time I have left home really feeling I was good enough for an
individual medal. It's nice that it has all come together.”
 
He
had plenty of praise for his horse Nereo and it was his solid anchor ride that
secured the bronze medal for the team, after being truly brilliant through the
three disciplines – dressage, cross country yesterday and finally the
showjumping today.
 
“I
have a lot of confidence and faith in Nereo and he is very consistent through
all three, getting stronger and stronger all the time.”
 
Nereo
and Nicholson were the 52nd of 55 combinations to go and they rode
into a pressure-cooker atmosphere in a packed arena filled with nearly 20,000
very vocal spectators. 
 
It
was a calm and polished performance that saw them round clean, clear and into
bronze. With hardly a thing separating the top four riders, it was a nail-biting
few minutes as Team New Zealand watched the remaining riders go to see if there
was to be an even better result in the making.
 
Gold
medal winner Michael Jung (Germany) was untouchable at the front of the field,
leading from start to finish in superb style aboard La Biosthetique-Sam
FBW.
 
In
the end, there was just 1.5 points between silver medallist William Fox-Pitt on
Cool Mountain and Nicholson.
 
American rider Karen O'Conner and Mandiba had a
nightmare in the showjumping, with a stop, a rail and then time penalties. It
was that mistake that gave New Zealand the chance to move up the ranks.
 
It is
the first time New Zealand has been on the World Games podium since 1998.
 
Nicholson said the team had been brilliant to be part
of.
 
“We
have been through a rebuilding and are on the way up now,” he said.
 
It
had been a real team effort, from management through to vets, grooms and others
who helped and supported the horses and riders to achieve glory.
 
Mark
Todd was “absolutely thrilled” with the podium finish.
 
“We
are all over the moon.”
 
He
and NZB Grass Valley rode a polished clear round in the showjumping. He'd had to
push the horse to step up a little quicker to top level than he had planned
after losing his Olympic horse NZB Gandalf in December.
 
Caroline Powell picked up four faults in the
showjumping but took the blame for that herself.
 
“I
was a bit disappointed with the dressage but thrilled to bits with the cross
country.”
 
The
efforts of her 12-year-old horse Mac MacDonald, owned Powell and Pat
Melville-Evans, made up for the nasty nip he gave his rider earlier in the
competition.
 
“It
has all been a bit of a whirlwind,” she said.
 
Powell finished 22nd overall.
 
Clarke Johnstone and Orient Express had 13 faults in
the showjumping and finished 39th overall.
 
Individual competitor Jonathan Paget, aboard Clifton
Promise, rode the event of his life at his first World Games, finishing seventh
overall after going clear today in the showjumping.
 
Chef
d'equipe and trainer Erik Duvander was somewhat lost for words. The bronze was
his first medal in 10 years of international coaching. But he says nerves were
never an issue as he knew just what his team was capable of.
 
“That
said, there are never any guarantees, but all the preparation had been
done.”
 
Duvander said it was incredibly exciting to see the
team progress so positively over the four days of competition.
 
“The
targets we set two years ago have been achieved – for the team, they have gone
beyond. It is rather unbelievable.”
 
The
eventing press conference drew the largest crowd of any of the disciplines so
far, with standing room only in the large auditorium, with photographers and
journalists from all over the world keen to get words and images of the
stars.
 
The
New Zealand showjumpers start their competition tomorrow (US time).
 
- Diana Dobson, Media Liason for NZ

Posted by:
Anne Vallance

WEG News from Kentucky

NZ Eventers win bronze medals at WEG Monday, 4 October 2010

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NZ Eventers win bronze medals at WEG
Monday, 4 October 2010