Olympic dressage has long been dominated by Germany and the team arrives in Paris as reigning team and individual champions. The nation has a whopping 14 Olympic team golds and eight individual titles to its name — more than any other country.
Germany’s defending individual champion is Jessica von Bredow-Werndl, who set a new Olympic record score of 84.666 in the Grand Prix Special in Tokyo riding TSF Dalera BB.
Compatriot Isabell Werth is the most medalled athlete in the history of equestrian sport. The 55-year-old rider has 12 Olympic medals to her name, including six team gold, one individual gold and five individual silver.
Her first team gold and individual silver came at the Barcelona Games in 1992, while the last were won in Tokyo.
Isabell brings 10-year-old Wendy to Paris, the mare she only started riding six months ago and who posted a hat-trick of victories in the Grand Prix, Special and Freestyle in the CDIO 5* at Aachen just a few weeks ago.
They scored 89.95 in the Freestyle there and will no doubt be looking to repeat that at the Olympics.
Frederic Wandres and Bluetooth OLD complete Germany’s trio, making the defending champions a formidable team.
The British team
Lottie Fry
Lottie Fry and Everdale at the 2021 Europeans. Credit: FEI/Liz Gregg
Team GB includes the reigning individual world champions: Lottie Fry and her black stallion Glamourdale.
They collected double gold in 2022 before going on to take team gold and Freestyle silver at last year’s Europeans.
The pair have been noticeably absent from the competition arena for much of this year.
However, they did pull off a double of wins at the CDI 3* at Aachen in May, followed by two more wins in the 4* at the same venue two weeks ago.
Becky Moody
Yorkshire’s Becky Moody brings her 10-year-old home-bred gelding Jagerbomb to Paris.
Becky Moody will ride her homebred Jagerbomb. Credit: British Equestrian/Jon Stroud Media
They were British reserves at the 2023 European Championship and finished third in both the Grand Prix and Freestyle at the World Cup leg in London last December.
A runner-up spot in the CDIO5*-NC Special in Compiègne came in May, followed by third place in the Special at the CDIO5*-NC in Rotterdam.
Becky regularly travels to train with her teammate Carl Hester, who lives more than four hours away in Gloucestershire.
Carl Hester
Carl will be riding at his seventh Olympic Games. At the age of 57, he will be the oldest British athlete competing in Paris.
Carl’s name is synonymous with dressage. He is one of the world’s greatest trainers and advocates for dressage as a global sport.
Carl Hester and Nip Tuck in action at Rio. Credit: FEI
He was a part of Britain’s historic first Olympic dressage team gold on home soil in London in 2012, before riding to team silver at the Rio 2016 Games and then collecting bronze in Tokyo.
The USA
Team USA won silver in Tokyo and two members of that side will be competing in Paris.
Steffen Peters, a veteran of five Olympic Games, brings his Tokyo ride Suppenkasper, the 16-year-old horse who finished fifth in the Grand Prix and fourth in the Freestyle at last year’s World Cup Final.
More recently, they finished third in the CDI4* Freestyle in Aachen.
Adrienne Lyle will be competing at her third Games and brings the 12-year-old gelding Helix. The duo scored numerous victories in Florida this year before coming to Europe and posting two fifth placings at the Hagen CDI3* and two runner-up placings at the CDI4* Kronberg in June.
Marcus Orlob completes the trio on 10-year-old mare Jane, whom he started riding earlier this year.
They competed in their first international competition in March and come to the Games with some good results in Europe under their belt.
Olympic dressage: fast facts
The youngest rider is 24-year-old Camille Carier Bergeron, who represents Canada aboard Finnlanderin.
The oldest rider is 65-year-old Juan Antonio Jiminez Cobo from Spain, who partners Euclides Mor.
There are 60 athletes competing and 35 (56.65%) are female while 25 (43.35%) are male.
Carl Hester and Isabell Werth are competing at their seventh Olympics. Both became first time Olympians in Barcelona in 1992.
Since the team event was introduced in Amsterdam in 1928, only four countries — France, Sweden, what was then the Soviet Union and Great Britain — have won team gold.
The reigning world champions and European bronze medallists from Denmark are amongst the 15 countries vying for a place on the Olympic team podium.
- 30 countries are represented
- 15 teams will compete
- 15 countries are represented by individual competitors
- 60 horse and riders will compete altogether
Olympic dressage: the format
Dressage is about training the horse to a high level and highlighting its athleticism and the beauty of its movement. At its best, horse and rider are in complete harmony and are often described as appearing to ‘dance’.
Grand Prix
The FEI Grand Prix dressage test will be ridden on Tuesday, 30 July, and Wednesday 31 July. These are the individual and team qualifiers and there will be 30 starters on each day.
The qualification ranking for the team competition will be decided by the combined results of all three team members in the Grand Prix.
Riders compete in six groups, with three groups competing on each day. The composition of the groups is based on the FEI World Ranking list position of the horse on the date of definite entries.
Grand Prix Special
The FEI Grand Prix Special dressage test will be ridden on Saturday, 3 August. This is the team final.
The top 10 teams (30 starters) in the Grand Prix (including any team tied for 10th place) will qualify for the Special, which is the team medal decider.
Grand Prix Freestyle
The FEI Grand Prix Freestyle test will be ridden on Sunday, 4 August. This is the final for the individual placings and there will be 18 starters.
The Grand Prix is also the individual qualifier and the top 18 will go through to the Freestyle. The qualified riders will be the top two combinations from each of the six groups and the combinations with the six next highest scores.
Meet the Officials
Ground Jury President: France’s Raphaël Saleh
Ground Jury Members: Henning Lehrmann (Germany), Isobel Wessels (Great Britain), Mariette Sanders (Netherlands), Magnus Ringmark (Sweden), Michael Osinski (USA) and Susanne Baarup (Denmark)
Judges Supervisory Panel Members: Britain’s Andrew Gardner, Australian Mary Seefried and Henk van Bergen from the Netherlands.
Countries fielding teams are:
- Australia
- Austria
- Belgium
- Canada
- Denmark
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Great Britain
- Netherlands
- Poland
- Portugal
- Spain
- Sweden
- USA
Countries fielding individuals are:
- Brazil
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- India
- Ireland
- Korea
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Morocco
- Moldova
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Singapore
- Switzerland
- Venezuela
View our Olympic timetable and find out how to watch
Main image: the gold medal-winning German team on the podium at the Tokyo Olympics. (L-R) Dorothee Schneider, Isabell Werth and Jessica von Bredow-Werndl . Image by FEI/Shannon Brinkman
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