Wow! Germany wins third successive Olympic dressage team gold medal in tense finale

The Olympic dressage team medals came down to the wire, with Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and TSF Dalera BB securing a third successive Olympic dressage team gold medal for Germany in a tense finale, that will be talked about for months to come.

It was billed as a clash of the titans that would come down to the smallest margins – and in that sense it delivered.

Going into the final round, Germany was on 155.836 and Denmark on 154.453.

Despite a mistake in the one-time changes, Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour and Freestyle scored the 81.22% – the highest score of the day – in an otherwise impressive test, leaving the Danes on a team total of 235.669.

That meant Jessica and Dalera had to score 79.83% to retain the gold – which under normal circumstances you’d think should be no problem for this combination.

But this was an uncharacteristic test, with an expensive mistake in the piaffe, which Dalera normally excels in, and contact issues throughout.

The combination did produce a remarkable final centre line, but there was a dramatic wait until the final collective marks came in to see who would take the gold – with most thinking Denmark would still clinch it.

But then came a massive German roar, as 79.95% came up on the big screen and Jessica burst into a massive smile.

That left Germany on a team total of 285.790 a remarkable 0.121 ahead of Denmark who won their first-ever dressage team silver medal on 235.669.

However, this gold medal was in many ways won earlier in the day by Isabell Werth and Wendy, who produced a show-stopping test to score yet another personal best of 79.89%.

More to follow…

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