Casting my mind back to the Glorious 12th, I still get goosebumps combined with deep reoccurring nervous tension (and of course a sadness that the GBR Dressage Chef d'Equipe and I were not on a Grouse Moor somewhere in Yorkshire or Scotland...the Glorious 12th spent in Rio, hummmm). It was a fabulous achievement by all to land the Dressage Team Bronze medal and even more pleasing to see that all four athletes had a counting score during the competition. I won't say it was a relaxing afternoon watching the British, German and American riders rotating through - there were one or two blips, but they got the job done and Laura Graves' ride was truly masterful. Having the top three teams competing in a rotation in the afternoon is an interesting concept but I wonder whether it would be better to have the 4th Team as well; the exciting competition was, in reality, between the Dutch and the Americans but the Dutch competed in the morning and we were in the afternoon - we knew exactly what scores we needed and it was not a true "head to head". It is something that I am sure will be discussed after the Games and it could be an entirely different situation at the next Games (i.e. 2nd and 3rd battling it out).
Team Bronze it was and, of course, a little celebration was required back at the hotel. Celebration = speeches but I am happy to report that the dressage crew beat the eventers in terms of the "shortest speech competition".
Yesterday was the official training day for jumping with each athlete having 90 seconds to jump a training course or any part of it, in them main arena. It is always interesting to see which riders jump which fences and listen to the experts (aka other riders) in the stands passing judgement on why riders chose which fences to jump.
So to today. I have been lulled in to a false sense of security. After just over two weeks I thought we had finally settled in to a transport system that worked, the drivers knew where to go and everyone seemed to understand the process. It required some planning each evening and liaising with Fabiano (our super talented transport and accommodation manager) but it was not causing me sleepless nights anymore. First three vans arrived at the venue today and "dropped off" where we have been dropping off since first getting here. Fourth van arrives and is not allowed to proceed past the vehicle check point! Apparently Rio 2016 have changed the rules and are seeking to blame the teams for misusing the system. They have conveniently forgotten that the car park we paid to use is yet to be opened. The USOC are fighting our corner but why why why - there have been enough challenges and frustrations without manufacturing more.
With everything going on today, I almost missed the first day of jumping competition. This is a funny old day as there is nothing to be won and much to be lost. For the Individual competition it is essential to not be in the last 16 as that is EndEx but for the team competition, the results only decide the starting order for the two days of Nations Cup (Team medal): The scores revert to 0 for the Nations Cup so the trick is not to take any more out of the horses than necessary. I think the U.S. finished 8th as a team but of far greater importance was the fact that everyone was super happy with how the horses jumped. There were some serious surprises today and there will be a few people scratching their heads tonight and plenty celebrating.
Other tasks today; working to ensure we keep the same stables for the Paralympics and working through the dressage departures. A busy day. Some riders / staff off to watch athletics, some off to basketball, some off for an early night (ready to dance tomorrow). For me...well, it is WineOClock.