Great Britain secured their first gold medal of the Paris 2024 Games by retaining their Olympic team eventing title. Laura Collett also added an individual bronze medal to the team’s achievements.
The team, consisting of Tokyo 2020 champions Collett, Tom McEwen, and world number one Ros Canter, clinched victory in the final showjumping stage at Chateau de Versailles on Monday. They ended the three-day competition with 91.30 penalties, finishing 12.3 points ahead of France, with Japan taking bronze.
In the individual eventing competition, Collett secured her second medal of the day with a penalty-free performance in the jumping final. She finished behind Germany’s Michael Jung and Australia’s Christopher Burton, with McEwen placing fourth.
The victory marks the first time Team GB has retained the Olympic team eventing title since achieving back-to-back golds in 1972. In Tokyo, Collett and McEwen were joined by Oliver Townend, with Canter serving as a travelling reserve.
Three years after their Tokyo success, the team successfully defended their title. Collett’s performance is particularly notable given her near-fatal fall in 2013. She became the first British woman to win an individual eventing medal since Kristina Cook in 2008.
In the lead-up to Monday’s final, the British trio had been in a strong position but saw their lead narrowed due to a record-breaking dressage performance and a controversial ruling that saw Canter drop from sixth to 24th place in the cross-country phase. The ruling, which British equestrian officials hoped would be overturned, was upheld, reducing GB’s overnight lead from 7.4 to 4.7 points.
Despite the setback, the team delivered a strong performance in the final eventing phase. Collett, McEwen, and Canter finished the competition with a commanding lead. Collett’s final round, despite 4.8 penalty points, secured the team’s victory.
Collett, who suffered significant injuries from a fall in 2013, described her horse London 52 as “the horse of a lifetime.” She and her horse achieved a memorable double medal performance in Paris, having previously placed ninth in the individual competition at Tokyo.
Collett began the individual final in third place, 1.3 penalty points behind Germany’s Michael Jung and 0.7 behind Australia’s Christopher Burton. Despite a perfect round, Jung and Burton held onto their gold and silver positions, leaving McEwen to finish fourth, 2.7 penalty points behind Collett.
Collett remarked, “I thought Tokyo was special but this is incomparable. It has blown that out the water, going out in front of a crowd like this and feeling like every single person is willing you on. This is just a day I will never, ever forget.”
