Russia's Andrey Moiseev became only the second man in Olympic history to retain the men's modern pentathlon, his victory helped to some extent by a riding phase in treacherous conditions at the Olympic Sports Centre, which proved the undoing of his closest challenger, the Czech Republic's David Svoboda.
Klaus Schormann, the president of the UIPM, defended the competition. "I saw the horse tests [before competition] and therefore I can say that the horses performed excellently. Because the strong rain made the ground very, very heavy, very deep and very slippery some of the athletes who are not so strong in riding were very afraid on the ground and when they were jumping."
"We will have a meeting now with the management about the competition tomorrow. If there is some more rain we may have to do something about reducing the height of the obstacles," he said.
Not all the riders thought the horses were good enough, though. "When I saw them [the horses] in the preliminaries, I knew it was going to be difficult. I feel really sorry for Svoboda who deserved a medal. To be honest the horses weren't good enough for the Olympic Games," said Britain's Nick Woodbridge, who finished down the field in 25th.
Woodbridge himself had no axe to grind for his undoing had come early on. In the shooting - the first phase - he had scored 856 points and was second-last of the 36 competitors. His swimming, in which he was second, and his riding, in which he was ninth, pulled him up the rankings.
Svoboda was by no means the only competitor undone by the riding phase. The conditions could hardly have been worse: the rain was unrelenting, and the horses were clearly unsettled by a noisy crowd of around 30,000, causing most of the riders, who drew their horses from a pool of 23, to struggle.
Sam Weale's mount, Diandian, didn't like the look of the third fence and there were any number of refusals. Weale, who eventually finished a very respectable 10th, racked up 164 penalty points, yet still finished 18th in the riding, so high were everyone else's penalties.
Five riders as well as Svoboda were thrown from their horses. The Frenchman John Zakrzewski suffered most when his mount threw him, dragged him through the wall one way and then took him back through it in reverse. Zakrzewski, to his credit, still completed the run.
Dominic Mahoney, Britain's team leader, who was an Olympic bronze medallist in Seoul, was less critical. "There are three factors, the quality of the course, the quality of the horses and the quality of the riders. Ideally, you would want one or two to go clear. I think the crowd might have spooked one or two, but our two riders handled the horses very well," he said.
The same horses will be used in the women's final on Friday, by which time they may be a little more used to the roar of the crowd. It could also play to Britain's advantage. Heather Fell, who goes into that competition with a real chance of a medal, is a superb horsewoman. If the animals play up again she will be one of the riders best equipped to deal with them.
Klaus Schormann, the president of the UIPM, defended the competition. "I saw the horse tests [before competition] and therefore I can say that the horses performed excellently. Because the strong rain made the ground very, very heavy, very deep and very slippery some of the athletes who are not so strong in riding were very afraid on the ground and when they were jumping."
"We will have a meeting now with the management about the competition tomorrow. If there is some more rain we may have to do something about reducing the height of the obstacles," he said.
Not all the riders thought the horses were good enough, though. "When I saw them [the horses] in the preliminaries, I knew it was going to be difficult. I feel really sorry for Svoboda who deserved a medal. To be honest the horses weren't good enough for the Olympic Games," said Britain's Nick Woodbridge, who finished down the field in 25th.
Woodbridge himself had no axe to grind for his undoing had come early on. In the shooting - the first phase - he had scored 856 points and was second-last of the 36 competitors. His swimming, in which he was second, and his riding, in which he was ninth, pulled him up the rankings.
Svoboda was by no means the only competitor undone by the riding phase. The conditions could hardly have been worse: the rain was unrelenting, and the horses were clearly unsettled by a noisy crowd of around 30,000, causing most of the riders, who drew their horses from a pool of 23, to struggle.
Sam Weale's mount, Diandian, didn't like the look of the third fence and there were any number of refusals. Weale, who eventually finished a very respectable 10th, racked up 164 penalty points, yet still finished 18th in the riding, so high were everyone else's penalties.
Five riders as well as Svoboda were thrown from their horses. The Frenchman John Zakrzewski suffered most when his mount threw him, dragged him through the wall one way and then took him back through it in reverse. Zakrzewski, to his credit, still completed the run.
Dominic Mahoney, Britain's team leader, who was an Olympic bronze medallist in Seoul, was less critical. "There are three factors, the quality of the course, the quality of the horses and the quality of the riders. Ideally, you would want one or two to go clear. I think the crowd might have spooked one or two, but our two riders handled the horses very well," he said.
The same horses will be used in the women's final on Friday, by which time they may be a little more used to the roar of the crowd. It could also play to Britain's advantage. Heather Fell, who goes into that competition with a real chance of a medal, is a superb horsewoman. If the animals play up again she will be one of the riders best equipped to deal with them.
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