Team GB won two eventing medals at the Tokyo Olympics after Tom McEwen added individual silver to the team competition gold won earlier on Monday evening. The British equestrian team last won the event in 1972, and it is Team GB’s 11th gold medal of the 2020 Games.
The 62-year-old Andrew Hoy led the Australian trio to team silver having first competed at the Olympics in Los Angeles in 1984. France, who won the event in Rio in 2016, claimed team bronze. Germany’s Julia Krajewski won individual gold.
The British trio of Oliver Townend, Laura Collett and Tom McEwen had gone into Monday’s final round in a commanding lead, with Oliver Townend had also ahead in the individual standings, but ultimately missed out on an individual medal.
First to jump in the team competition round on Monday was 30-year-old McEwen on Toledo De Kerser, who went clear. Collett on London 52 took one fence down on her run, picking up four faults, but she rallied to go clear for the rest of her course. Townend was the last of all the riders to go, with a four-fence cushion, provided he incurred no time penalties. In the end he took down one fence, to secure Britain’s first victory in the event for 49 years.
In the individual round, Collett put down two fences to pick up eight faults and put her out of contention. Townend incurred four faults and a time penalty, having led overnight, but McEwen earned his silver with a clear round, picking up just 0.4 of a time penalty.
Speaking to the BBC after the team event had concluded, Townend confessed that he didn’t know how much he had in hand in the day’s first run, saying: “I put myself under a bit of pressure, but that’s normal, but these two guys have made it very easy for me, jumping such amazing rounds. We’ve got another round to jump, so we’ll focus on that, but there’ll be a big celebration and I don’t think it’ll be with a cup of tea.”
McEwen added: “We’ve put in many many hours, from children to where we are now, and it’s all paying off, all the work we’ve put in.”
Collett recalled the drastic accident she had while competing eight years ago, which resulted in multiple fractures and left her in a coma for six days. She said: “Just to be here was more than a dream come true. It hasn’t sunk in. And I look back and I think where I was eight years ago. I knew I was lucky to even just be alive, let alone be able to come and do the job that I love, and be lucky enough to have a horse like London 52 to bring me to a place like Tokyo.”
The eventing competition takes place across three days, consisting of a dressage test, a cross-country round, and a jumping round. The Swiss team competed in the final day using alternate rider Eveline Bodenmüller on Violine De La Brasserie, after Robin Godel’s Jet Set had to be put down after sustaining an injury in the cross-country on Sunday.
At the 2016 Olympics in Rio British riders took two golds in the equestrian sports, with Charlotte Dujardin on Valegro winning the individual dressage, and Nick Skelton on Big Star in the individual show-jumping, but secured no medals in the eventing.