Equestrian Olympics 2024: Every Medal Winner at Versailles

Germany and Great Britain won all six gold medals at the equestrian Olympics 2024. Germany took four: team dressage, individual dressage, individual eventing and individual jumping. Britain won team eventing and team jumping. The competition ran from 27 July to 6 August in the grounds of the Palace of Versailles, with 200 riders from 49 nations. As in every Olympic equestrian event, men and women competed against each other on equal terms.

Germany finished top of the equestrian medal table with four gold medals and one silver. Great Britain also won five medals: two gold and three bronze. France, the host nation, won a silver and a bronze. Australia, Denmark, Switzerland and the United States each won a silver, and Japan and the Netherlands each won a bronze. In total, 18 medals went to nine nations.

Eventing came first. Britain's team was Rosalind Canter on Lordships Graffalo, Tom McEwen on JL Dublin and Laura Collett on London 52. They won team gold on 91.3 penalties, 12.3 ahead of France on 103.6. Japan took bronze, its first Olympic eventing medal and its first equestrian medal in any discipline since 1932. Britain kept the title it had won in Tokyo. The win was also Team GB's first gold of the Paris Games and a record fifth Olympic team eventing title for the country.

The individual eventing title went to Germany's Michael Jung on Chipmunk FRH, who finished on 21.8 penalties. Australia's Christopher Burton won silver on Shadow Man with 22.4, and Collett won bronze on London 52 with 23.1. Jung became the first rider to win three individual Olympic eventing titles. He won in London 2012 and Rio 2016 on La Biosthetique-Sam FBW before this win on Chipmunk. He had no room for error in the final jumping round, because one fence down would have added four penalties and taken him to 25.8, behind Burton and Collett. Collett and London 52 had already set an Olympic record in the dressage phase with 17.5, just ahead of Jung and Chipmunk on 17.8. Both beat the 19.3 scored by David O'Connor and Custom Made at Sydney 2000, converted to the current scoring system.

Team dressage was decided in the Grand Prix Special on 3 August, and the margin was tiny. Germany beat Denmark by 0.121 of a point, 235.790 to 235.669, with Great Britain third on 232.492. Germany's team was Frederic Wandres on Bluetooth OLD, Isabell Werth on Wendy (79.894%) and Jessica von Bredow-Werndl on TSF Dalera BB (79.954%). Von Bredow-Werndl rode last for Germany, and mistakes in her first piaffe brought her score down and made the finish that close. The best ride of the day came from Denmark's Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour on Freestyle. Her 81.216% was the only score above 80%. Her teammates were Nanna Skodborg Merrald on Zepter and Daniel Bachmann Andersen on Vayron. Britain's bronze came from Becky Moody on Jagerbomb (76.489%), Carl Hester on Fame and Charlotte Fry on Glamourdale (79.483%).

The result was Germany's 15th Olympic team dressage gold. It was also Werth's eighth Olympic gold, won at her seventh Games. She first competed at the Olympics in 1992.

The next day, 4 August, von Bredow-Werndl and TSF Dalera BB defended the individual title they had won in Tokyo. They scored 90.093% in the freestyle. Werth won silver on Wendy with 89.614%, her 14th Olympic medal. Fry and Glamourdale took bronze for Britain on 88.971%, ahead of the Netherlands' Dinja van Liere on Hermes on 88.432%.

Britain's second gold came in the team jumping final on 2 August. Ben Maher on Dallas Vegas Batilly, Harry Charles on Romeo 88 and Scott Brash on Jefferson did not knock down a single fence. They finished on two penalties, which were time faults for Maher and Brash. The United States won silver on four penalties. Karl Cook on Caracole de la Roque and McLain Ward on Ilex both went clear, and Laura Kraut had one fence down on Baloutinue. France won bronze for the home crowd on seven penalties, with Simon Delestre, Olivier Perreau and Julien Epaillard. It was Britain's third Olympic team jumping title, after Helsinki 1952 and London 2012. Brash and Maher were both on the 2012 team, alongside Harry Charles's father, Peter Charles.

The last event, on 6 August, was the individual jumping final. Only three of the 30 finalists went clear in the first round, so the medals were decided in a jump-off. Germany's Christian Kukuk went first on Checker 47 and was clear in 38.34 seconds. The Netherlands' Maikel van der Vleuten and Beauville Z had a fence down in 39.12. Switzerland's Steve Guerdat, the London 2012 champion, rode last on Dynamix de Belheme. He was faster than van der Vleuten, in 38.38, but also had a fence down. Faults count before time, so Kukuk won gold, Guerdat silver and van der Vleuten bronze. It was van der Vleuten and Beauville Z's second Olympic individual bronze in a row, after Tokyo.

Kukuk's gold gave Germany all three individual titles at the equestrian Olympics 2024. Several results also set records: Jung's third individual eventing title, Werth's 14th medal, Germany's 15th team dressage gold and Britain's fifth team eventing title. The next Olympic equestrian competition will be at Los Angeles 2028.