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29
Jul
The Olympic eventing coach bringing his golden touch to Team GB
Members of Great Britain’s equestrian squad rode into action on Saturday, and the eventing team was in the lead after the first two days of the Olympic Games.
Any medals they may win will of course, be largely down to their own and their horses’ efforts, but some of the credit must also go to Chris Bartle.
Chris owns the Yorkshire Riding Centre near Markington, but he’s also high performance coach to Britain’s eventing team.
The Stray Ferret spoke to him last week, shortly before he left for Paris. With typical understatement he said:
It’s been pretty hectic around here, getting ready for the upcoming ‘gymkhana’.
He was upbeat in his assessment of Team GB’s chances. He said:
On paper, you’d have to say we have a very strong squad. They’re probably the favourites.
We know we can win. We have the horsepower, the riders and the form, and we’ll do everything possible to win.
There are three equestrian disciplines at the Olympics: dressage, eventing and showjumping, and each is competed at individual and team level.
Despite having a strong equestrian heritage, Great Britain has not historically been one of the top performers in equestrian events. In dressage, it comes eighth in the overall medals table, in jumping sixth, and in eventing – which combines dressage, jumping and cross-country – GB comes fourth.
In fact, Britain has enjoyed medal success more times in eventing (21 medals) than the other two put together (seven for dressage, 10 for jumping), although Team GB has claimed the individual Gold for showjumping at the last two Olympics.
This year’s eventing team of Ros Canter, Laura Collett, Yasmin Ingham and Tom McEwen travelled to France with their horses via the Channel Tunnel last Sunday – good and early so they could get through border control and be given the green light by France’s equine vets. Chris followed later. He said:
We’re not staying in the Olympic Village. Versailles [where the equestrian events are held] is outside Paris, so we’ve taken a large house about half an hour away from the venue, which will house the equestrian team and the support team.
Team GB's eventers: Laura Collett, Tom McEwen, Ros Canter and Yasmin Ingham.
But even though their prospects look good, Chris is not allowing himself to feel too confident. He said:
I’m absolutely not taking winning for granted. We know that anything can happen – you can from hero to zero very fast. The tiniest injury – a little cut on a horse’s foot, for example – that you might not even be able to see, can make all the difference.
You can bring in a reserve horse or rider, but that carries a penalty, so it’s likely to take you out of contention.
You have to be as prepared for the Games as possible, to make sure nothing goes wrong.
That attention to detail has reaped dividends for the eventing team in recent years, with an individual Silver for Tom McEwen on Toledo de Kerser and a team Gold at the last Olympics in Tokyo.
But of course, much will depend on the opposition, and historically, Germany, France, the USA, Australia and New Zealand have all been strong.
Chris said:
France are on home territory, which is always an advantage. America has a strong squad, and New Zealand are a long way from home, but some of their riders are based in the UK, so they have a lot of experience competing in Europe.
But I’d say the second favourites are probably Germany. I respect them very much. In fact, I coached their team, so I have only myself to blame if they win!
In fact, Chris was the national coach for the German Olympic eventing team from 2001 to 2016, a period that saw them win team Gold in 2008 and 2012, and individual Gold in 2008, 2012 and 2016. (He started a streak – they won it again in 2020.)
Should Team GB strike gold this time around, Chris will of course, be delighted – even if he’s been there before albeit for a different country. He said:
If they win, I’ll just be so happy for them. And then I’ll probably find a spot in a corner and go to sleep after all that adrenaline!
“It builds up to a crescendo and then – boomph! – you wake up and think ‘What next?’.
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