Wednesday, 04 August 2021
Following brilliant performances on Tuesday by Ben Maher, Scott Brash and Harry Charles, which saw Team GB become the first nation to qualify all three of their riders for the individual final, today the medal hunt reached a thrilling climax.
Only once before has a nation won back-to-back individual gold medals in showjumping – when Ludger Beerbaum and Ulrich Kirchhoff, both of Germany, managed it at Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996 respectively. With Nick Skelton and Big Star taking the gold medal at Rio 2016, could one of the Team GB trio repeat the feat in Tokyo and carve their way into the history books?
Twenty-two year old Harry Charles and Romeo 88, here on their Olympic debut, were first into the arena for the team. While Harry continued to show a talent and skill that belied his youth and relative inexperience, the round just didn’t go their way – after four fences down, Harry made the decision to retire the 12-year-old gelding that he co-owns with Ann Thompson. While it might not have been the result they were hoping for, their performance over the past few days indicates a bright future still to come for this pair and they can now build on their Olympic experience.
Scott Brash and Hello Jefferson followed not long after. The 12-year-old gelding, owned by Lady Pauline Harris and Lady Pauline Kirkham, gave Scott a brilliant ride and they looked sure to progress to the jump-off. However, as they crossed the finish line and their supporters on the kiss cry started to cheer, the clock turned red – heartbreakingly, they were just a fraction of a second over the time allowed. Their hunt for an individual title had come to an end with one single penalty on the scoreboard. However their round will give them plenty of confidence heading into the team competition.
Ben Maher and 12-year-old Explosion W, by Chacco Blue, had arrived in Tokyo as one of the favourites to take the individual title but, in jumping, anything can happen. A fast clear round yesterday had placed them last to go in the reverse order of merit running order, so it had been a nervous wait for Ben behind the scenes while the rest of the field completed their rounds – with falling poles and time penalties aplenty between them. With a team gold medal already in the trophy cabinet from London 2012, when he rode beside Scott and Harry’s father Peter, could he now add an individual Olympic title with what is arguably his horse of a lifetime?
As is their trademark, they cruised round the tricky course clear with time to spare, just one of six combinations to make it through to the jump-off. Their time placed them as fourth to go – not a situation that Ben was expecting.
“I had a plan, but I don’t really remember it now to be honest!” he laughed. “The team believed that, by being fastest qualifier yesterday, I’d be last in the jump-off today and it threw me off a little bit that that wasn’t the case. I wanted to go in there knowing exactly what I had to do, but Peter Charles and Scott Brash were watching for me and they said ‘you’ve just got to go – do what you’ve done on him in the past’. As I was going through the gate, I knew I didn’t want to be that person who came fourth. I wasn’t going to leave anything on the table.”
With the eyes of the nation upon them and expectations running high, the pair set off and – as instructed – did exactly what they’ve done in the past. It was a vision of composure with no flapping or frenetic pace – in fact, to some watching the live stream, it might even have looked leisurely – but Explosion W simply did what he does best, which is open his stride and fly straight into the lead by 0.17 seconds. They were on the podium, and it was now just a matter of waiting to see what colour the medal would be.
Sweden’s Henrick von Eckermann and Holland’s Maikel van der Vleuten, the final two riders, tried to rise to the challenge but just weren’t able to match the British pair’s speed. Just like that, Ben and Explosion W were Olympic champions.
“It doesn’t seem real,” said an emotional Ben, who shed tears behind the scenes when he realised what the final outcome was. “I think it’ll all sink in tonight or tomorrow morning when I wake up. There’s been a lot of pressure the last few weeks. I’m biased, but I believe I’m on the best horse – he’s an incredible horse and I’m very fortunate to be able to ride him for owners Pamela Wright and Charlotte Rossetter. They’ve kept him for me, for this, and with that comes pressure. People expect things, and there have been little comments here or there that I don’t normally pick up on, but they’ve been sitting at the back of my mind all the time. It’s finally happened, so I’m very happy, very relieved and I’m just going to try and enjoy every moment of it now.
“I’ve had so many people who I owe this to, in the end. Explosion’s the main one, but I have vets and farriers who’ve been with me for over ten years, there’s my team back home and Cormac Kenny – Explosion’s groom – who came to me from Ireland when he was 16 years old. He grew up with me and he’s a big part of this moment. My family, my fiancée Sophie who I’m marrying in two weeks time – I don’t know which was more pressure, this or getting married! There are so many people who’ve contributed to make this possible and hopefully we’ll get home and have a good celebration.”
The run-up to this Games hasn’t been the easiest for Ben, even before the complications of COVID-19. Planned back surgery in January 2020 kept him out of the saddle for several months, which gave him just two competitions before the pandemic hit. However, the surgery has given him a new lease of life.
“I feel younger than I probably am – this is my fourth Olympic Games and I’m the oldest one on the team here. It was a planned surgery and I had a fantastic team of doctors – the National Lottery and everyone who supports us back home made that possible – and the team I had around me helped me to get fit. I was in the gym for two days a week for nearly 12 weeks with a guy called Ed in America who got me fit just a week after surgery, and I had sessions with [World Class Programme] physio Jennie Owst over Zoom.”
Ultimately, though, today’s success comes down to the partnership between Ben and the incredible Explosion W – a horse who looks set to follow the likes of Milton and Big Star into the hearts of the British public.
“I’ve had many good horses in my career, but I won’t ride another one like him again, and that’s a big statement,” said Ben. “He’s just such an intelligent horse, a fun horse to be around, and he’s a real athlete. He’s not a normal horse. All the nerves that I had coming from the hotel today and when I got here, I came in through the gate and they just went away. I jumped fence one and something just clicks, and he fills me with confidence. I’m just really enjoying riding him and hopefully it lasts a long time.”
The second horse inspection takes place at 09:00 BST tomorrow morning, then the team competition gets underway on Friday 6 August. And what does Ben think of Team GB’s chances – the equestrian squad has stood on every podium so far at the Tokyo Games, so can they make it six out of six?
“We have a good team here, so I’m positive,” said Ben. “Scott jumped a great round today, it’s unlike him to be the wrong side of the time. We have a good team spirit going on in our camp. We’ve been here before, in London, so I have hopes for this week.”