Reuters: Sports News: Equestrian: Golden day for Germany in eventing

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Equestrian: Golden day for Germany in eventing Jul 31st 2012, 16:36 1 of 9. (L-R) Germany's Peter Thomsen, Dirk Schrade, Sandra Auffarth, Michael Jung and Ingrd Klimke celebrate before receiving their gold medals in the Eventing Team Jumping equestrian event victory ceremony at the London 2012 Olympic Games in Greenwich Park, July 31, 2012. Credit: Reuters/Eddie Keogh By Sarah Edmonds LONDON | Tue Jul 31, 2012 12:36pm EDT LONDON (Reuters) - Germany's Michael Jung celebrated a golden 30th birthday on Tuesday, taking home both team and individual gold in the close-fought Olympic eventing contest. The world and European Champion produced two flawless and commanding rounds on mount Sam in the final phase of the multi-discipline competition that tests horse and rider across dressage, cross-country and jumping. Team mate Sandra Auffarth, riding Opgun Louvo, took bronze. Britain emerged with team silver in front of a roaring home crowd hungry for a chance to see royal Olympian Zara Phillips, granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth. It was a day of mixed fortunes for Britain. Mary King went into the final round in third but had two rails down and dropped to fifth while Kristina Cook, also in contention in fourth, fell to sixth after two knockdowns. Phillips jumped a confident clear in the individual, vaulting her to eighth spot from 14th going in. Prince William and his wife Kate, Prince Harry, the Duchess of Cornwall and brother Peter Phillips were all on hand to cheer Phillips as she cleared the last fence and gave her mount, High Kingdom, huge pats of approval. Phillips's mother Princess Anne, a fellow eventer who rode for the British team at the Montreal Games, hung the medal around her daughter's neck and kissed her on both cheeks. "When you get one of these put around your neck... you realize everything was worth it," Phillips said. "It is amazing obviously to get it from your mum." It was also an outstanding Olympics for individual silver medalist Sara Algotsson Ostholt of Sweden, who went into the second round in top spot and was only knocked out by a knockdown at the last fence. Her grey mare Wega was bred and raised on her home farm. New Zealand took team bronze and Andrew Nicholson put in a very strong showing in the cross-country and jumping to finish fourth individually. Team veteran and double gold medalist Mark Todd, who came out of retirement after eight years to ride in the Beijing Olympics, said it was an emotional moment for him. "It's hard to believe I am back here after 28 years with another medal," said Todd, who finished joint 11th after the individual having knocked down two fences. The final score is an accumulative total of penalties notched up over the three disciplines. (Additional reporting by Paul Majendie; Editing by Alison Wildey) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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