Team GB have secured their fourth equestrian medal of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games so far, with the dressage team winning bronze in today’s Grand Prix Special.

Three stunning tests performed by Becky Moody, Carl Hester and Charlotte Fry scored highly enough for a podium finish, but they didn’t impress the judges quite as much as Germany and Denmark. The German team were last to go and in a nail-biting finale, they managed to edge ahead of the Danes, taking home gold.

There was only a tiny margin between first and second place, with Germany scoring 235.790% and Denmark 235.669%. Team GB closely followed with 232.492%.

Becky Moody and Jagerbomb were first to go of the Brits and managed to produce their best ever score for this test at this level – 76.489% –  which put them into the lead.

“My horse was amazing, he’s only young, he just went in there and was so cool,” Becky said of her homebred 10-year-old, whose father, Dante Weltino OLD, was also competing in the final under Sweden’s Therese Nilshagen.

Becky was a late swap in to the British team when Charlotte Dujardin withdrew, but despite the pressure, she said the team have been nothing but supportive.

“[They] have been incredible and haven’t put any pressure on me at all,” Becky explained. “It’s a massive team effort. Carl has helped me an awful lot here and my other coach, David Hunt. They’re all such fundamental parts [of the team]. We’re the tip of the iceberg, just me and the horse. The team that get us there is enormous, so it’s everybody’s success.”

Becky added that the Olympic experience had been “crazy”.

“This place is amazing, the stadium is beautiful, the crowd are fantastic,” she added. “It’s been pretty insane.”

Carl Hester was second to go for the British team and he and a rather exuberant Fame scored a very respectable 76.489%. He clawed back his marks from a small mistake when Fame took over slightly, but he still did enough to retain the premier position, but not for long.

Denmark overtook the lead, followed by Germany, leaving Team GB taking up third place before Charlotte Fry entered the Versailles arena.

Charlotte pulled off a stunning test with Glamourdale, scoring 79.483%, with the 13-year-old stallion looking incredible as he showed off his enormous power and control. His trademark extended canter wowed the judges, but their valiant efforts weren’t quite enough to better third position.

Denmark’s Cathrine Laurdrop Dufour and Freestyle followed, achieving a score of 81.216% with their precise and harmonious performance. This was the biggest single score of the competition, piling the pressure on defending double-Olympic champion, Germany’s Jessica von Bredow, who was last to go.

Jessica and Dalera pulled off a practically immaculate test scoring 79.483%, allowing her team to take the team title by just 0.121 percentage points point ahead of the Danes. This is the nation’s 15th team dressage gold, 10 of these from the last 11 editions of the Games dating back to Los Angeles in 1984.

“We did it!” said Jessica, who claimed double-gold with the same mare in Tokyo three years ago. “It was too exciting to be honest, and at the end the margin was so tiny.”

Both Germany’s Isabell Werth and Carl are competing in their seventh Olympic Games his year. Carl reflected on how the team competition played out over the last few days and said he knew it was going to be close-run affair for the medal placings.

“Looking at the scores all year you could see how everybody has been shifting around and you could see how Isabell has been improving, which she’s just proved now, and the Danes have been so very consistent and very strong,” he said. “For me it’s great to see Becky Moody being the newest star to hit the Olympics, she has been amazing – so it’s all very exciting.”

Tomorrow (Sunday 4 August) the dressage action concludes with the Freestyle, the individual final and medal decider. Competition starts at 9am (GMT).

Images by FEI/Benjamin Clark

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