Some ponderings on our well deserved team bronze

Madrid finally realised that there was a horse show on and turned up in force.

Team Bronze!!  If you have not heard, where have you been hiding??!!  A great day that saw the GBR riders fight hard for a medal.

Another clear from Nick; Guy Williams and Titus “came good” with just 1 time fault, Triple X (Ben Maher) just clipped the oxer at 5 and John, for once, was the discard score with 8 faults. 

France and Germany had the perfect day adding nothing to their score from Thursday; so Bronze was the best result we could have achieved with score we had at the end of Thursday.  NED achieved their aim of securing Olympic qualification but will, I am sure, be disappointed that they slipped out of the medals.  There was a sizeable gap between GER / FRA / GBR / NED and the other Nations, with the BEL challenge dying away early during yesterday’s proceedings.

Nick goes in to the individual Final in second place so perhaps more to come........

Some thoughts;

·           Without the Speed Competition (the first round of the Team Competition) GBR would have jumped off for Silver with France.  i.e. if it had been a normal Nations Cup we would have been 2nd = with FRA.

·           GBR and GER are the only Nations that have medalled in all 4 Olympic / Paralympic discipline European Championships this year.

·           GBR would have qualified all 4 Olympic / Paralympic teams for London 2012 without Home Nation qualification – only GER has, to date, achieved that – this demonstrates just how difficult it is to qualify for the Games, especially if you are from Europe.  CAN and USA could achieve teams in all 4 disciplines as well.....

Of course the success we have achieved this summer will only raise expectations ahead of next year.  The important thing is that we do not panic – we have a plan and we have the people in place that can deliver that plan.......keep the faith!

Captivated show crowds