Which country has won the most Olympic eventing medals?
When looking at team medals, Germany (including West Germany and the combined German team) heads the leaderboard with 13 medals in total (four gold, five silver, four bronze). Britain shares the highest number of team gold medals (four) with Austria and Germany.
In the individual competition, riders from the USA have won 13 medals in total (two gold, seven silver and four bronze), while Germany (in all its forms) and Sweden both have four Olympic eventing individual champions in their history.
How many Olympic eventing medals has Great Britain won?
Britain has won 11 Olympic eventing team medals: four gold, five silver and two bronze. The most recent team success prior to winning gold at Tokyo 2020 was winning silver in our home games at London 2012. It has been 49 years since Britain was previously crowned Olympic eventing team champions at the 1972 Games in Munich.
In the individual Olympic eventing competition, British riders have won 10 medals in total: two gold, three silver and five bronze. Prior to Tom McEwen’s silver medal at Tokyo 2020, the most recent British Olympic eventing individual medalist was Tina Cook, who rode Miners Frolic to win the bronze medal in the 2008 Beijing Games, for which the equestrian events were held in Hong Kong. Our most recent Olympic individual eventing champion was Leslie Law riding Shear L’Eau in the 2004 Athens Games.
What’s the Olympic eventing competition format?
There will be both team and individual medals up for grabs in Tokyo, which will be decided on 2 August. In order to win an individual medal, each horse and rider will have to tackle the dressage, cross-country and showjumping phases across four days to receive their final penalty score – the lowest score wins.
How many riders in an Olympic eventing team?
There will be three horse and rider combinations in each team with all scores to count, plus one reserve who can be substituted in under certain circumstances.
Essential reading
• H&H’s beginners’ guide: what is eventing at the Olympics?
• H&H’s expert guide to the Olympic eventing format
• H&H’s essential guide to eventing scoring and penalities
• H&H’s detailed guide to eventing dressage scoring
• H&H’s beginners’ guide to eventing cross-country at the Olympics
When did eventing become an Olympic sport?
The sport of eventing was first seen in the Olympics in the 1912 Games in Stockholm. Only male riders were allowed to compete and Sweden’s Axel Nordlander won individual gold and led his team to the top spot on the podium. The first Olympic eventing competition consisted of a 55km endurance race, a 5km cross-country course, a 3.5km steeplechase, jumping over 15 obstacles, as well as a dressage phase.
When did women start competing against men in Olympic eventing?
The restriction that only allowed men to compete in Olympic equestrian events was lifted in 1951, with the first women competing alongside men in the 1952 Helsinki Games. However it was not until Tokyo 1964 that the first woman represented her country in Olympic eventing: this was Helena du Pont of the USA.
