Today I am writing this as I watch the cross country highlights, of course all in Portuguese; firstly to see what else happened on the course today but also trying to see if I made it onto TV. I have conflicting reports from friends most of who have mistaken Bianca for me. It turns out I am on TV when Michael Jung jumps the Ski Jump (at the bottom of the hill). But I can now officially say I was a jump judge at the Olympics, judging a lot of my idols, how cool is that!
I have to say these last two days have been a whirlwind and I can’t quite believe my time in Rio is coming to an end! With WFP in the lead following the dressage, the pressure was on for GB. Yesterday we managed to see a little action on the big screens, we were out on the XC field again doing a final dress rehearsal and everything went very smoothly. It was safe to assume we were sorted for the big day.
Having finished training, we headed to the main arena to watch a couple of horses. Unfortunately it was at least another hour until the dressage started back up. The girls and I had been desperate to see the Olympic Park and this afternoon was probably the last chance to do so. Knowing we would be able to watch the other two days of action we chose to leave. The Olympic Park was incredible. In London I wasn’t lucky enough to visit as the equestrian tickets didn’t let you in!
It was amazing. So many stadiums in such a small but massive space. Now at the equestrian we have our own Olympic Rings, what we don’t have is the Rio Logo. The Olympic park does. What’s even better, and the Brits will appreciate this, unlike Copa there was a queue for a picture with it! I was like, finally! We can get a decent picture. So of course we took the opportunity!
Monday! XC big day!
As it was XC day today it was an earlier start than normal, we needed to be at the venue for 7. Unfortunately security, despite having 4 or 5 tents still only had 2 open. It took us ageeessss to get through. Once we had it was straight to the XC field to get set up before the crowds arrived.
Now I’m used to Burghley crowds, we all know what you can and can’t do and where you can and can’t cross the track. It was very apparent that Brazilians aren’t used to these type of events. With crowds often trying to cross in places they shouldn’t. It wasn’t helped by the lack of Green Volunteers showing up today, which is out of anyone’s control. But as equestrians we do what we do best and got the job done!
Being able to fence judge was incredible. It was established early on our fence was going to be influential one. I would say at least half took the long route at our fence. And out of those I would say half were forced through not being able to make the park B element. Unfortunately William Fox-Pitt was one of these. It turns out only 40% of the field went clear today vs 67.9% at London. Our fence was ideally 3 strides between each element, however not only were the last two obstacles skinny, they were down a massive hill.
I was in awe as I was judging these athletes going round. I can’t believe I’ve been a fence judge for the Olympics. I mean it had Jung, Todd, Fox-Pitt and Funnell going round the course to name a few. As Sasha put it, we have judged a gold medal winning Olympian. Safe to say the photo of us on course summarised this for us. We really couldn’t have asked for better weather either. All week we have had blazing sunshine or overcast and drizzle. Today we had cloud for most of it but no rain. As fence judges we were very happy, it was good for the horses and we weren’t getting rained on!
We did have one fall at our fence. This was the Polish Rider. It was quite something. I’ve witnessed a few at Burghley but this one was different in the sense that we were responsible for reporting it in, and had a vet screen been needed we needed to put one up. Luckily one wasn’t needed, although both horse and rider walked away, the horse did go back in the horse ambulance, better safe than sorry. This situation was where crowd etiquette wasn’t what we were used too. People were ghouling and crowding round the horse whilst they were trying to get it loaded and weren’t listening to instructions to move back. It’s a shame that this happened. I can understand not knowing but once your asked to move… You move.
Once the course was completed, Andy radioed in all the faults Celine and I had called. My fence (19) was a perfect fence, no one had any faults. It all happened at 20.
This was another tough one for me. Our additional role was to keep people away from the fences and the track. This I didn’t understand as most of the fun at Burghley is looking round all the fences after they are ridden. I asked Andy, apparently lots of ‘souvenirs’ were stolen off the jumps in London; therefore the decision was made to not let the public on the course. I did upset some fellow Brits who were desperate to take a picture at Jump 20. It was hard, I totally got why they wanted to, and why they thought it was crazy that they couldn’t. But that’s the rules and it’s the same for everyone.
And like that the Volunteering journey is over, the FEI even retweeted me about this! That was pretty cool. We still have access to the venue and backstage so I will be sure to make the most of this over the SJ phase and first Dressage day before heading home. I mean after all today we met Michael Jung right at the end and he was pretty happy! Of course Celine and I freaked out after. Who wouldn’t, he is the current legend of the sport!
I will of course for those interested complete my journey in the last blog to come.
Our thanks to Lizzy Campbell for sharing her story and photos.
