Completely understand Nicholson’s aggravation. But … he’s only 6.9 points behind the first place score, and XC is predicting lotsa time faults all around. He’s still in the running. Lindback is only 7.1 points behind first after dressage.
I wondered about the delay as well, have certainly watched Rolex KY dressage riders in coats that were soaked through from driving rain during their test. But if there was lightening, I think the organizers did what they had to do. Maybe they can explain to Andrew that it is one thing to be killed by lightening at Rolex KY, but it’s something else to be killed by lightening at the Olympics. They would have to stop the whole Olympics for a day and have a ceremony in the big stadium with the torch, in this day and age.
Oh pulease.
He ought to be a good enough horseman to know how to wind down his horse during the break, and then appropriately bring it back up to competition energy again. They are given “you have X-minutes to your ride” warnings by the officials.
Sure sounds like a case of sour grapes to me. Yes, the delay was not the best thing that could have happened to him, but he is an experienced horseman and &%#$ happens.
Hey, he is still ahead of the best American. (A result which I find very sad.) WTF is the matter with US dressage? Is it really that hard to get our act together? We are behind Japan and Sweden, fer Chrissakes.
Tough luck, but weather happens.
I was just rewatching the 1992 Olympic jumping the other day, the individual final. HORRIBLE storm early. Great weather by the end. Completely different conditions for early horses vs. late, and one of the early ones was Jos Lansink with Egano, a gold medal favorite, who stopped out 3 times at a wall in driving rain. Gray wall, gray sky, gray rain.
Maybe I’m not remembering it all from that long ago, but I don’t remember reading Jos speaking out against the officials, griping it should have been done differently, saying their weather call (in this case NOT to delay) ruined his medal, etc. Just “that’s the breaks sometimes.”
Then there was the Olympics or maybe WEG where Ulla Salzberger (sp?) on Rusty had her CD fail in mid musical freestyle. Test halted, and she was excused from the ring while they fetched the spare CD. Came back a horse or so later, picked it back up in the middle of her ride, and finished. I’m sure that sequence of in-out-in the ring confused the heck out of Rusty. She just coped with it. They won an individual medal on that ride. 
Exactly! Excellent examples, dressagetraks. If you’re Olympic caliber, you should be able to deal with just about anything by that point. The only complaining that is justified is when there is a rule book breech. Otherwise, suck it up and get on with it.
[QUOTE=rodawn;6464774]
He ought to be a good enough horseman to know how to wind down his horse during the break, and then appropriately bring it back up to competition energy again. They are given “you have X-minutes to your ride” warnings by the officials.[/QUOTE]
Not all tinderbox event horses are … amenable … to warming up, chilling out, then doing their test (sometimes a fraught proposition in the best of conditions). I’m not sure anyone would do a better job of managing Nereo; it’s not a matter of being a ‘good enough horseman’.
I feel sorry for him - he seems to attract the worst luck at the Olympics! Still, there’s a long way to go before medals are awarded.
Andrew is famous for always having a complaint about something, if the weather conditions included lightning then I can’t blame the organizers for delaying some of the rides. He’s not been eliminated from individual medal contention there is still a lot that can happen. And remember when all he had to do was not knock down more than 8 showjumps for a team gold and he had a total collapse and had 9 down? He should shut up and ride.
I don’t understand the statement that Caroline Powell and Jonelle Richards are out of the mix. I thought it was the best three total scores after the three phases finish.
I’m trying to work up the dressage coefficient spreadsheet now.
Sounds more like he chokes when crunch time hits and has a habit of blaming it on anything else BUT his choking.
Sheilah
He’s actually a very successful eventer whose forte is cross country but the one time he was ahead at the OG he definitely choked, so he shouldn’t be complaining that he is not further up in the order as he didn’t perform very well when he had the opportunity.
Viney, I thought the same thing about taking the top 3 scores, it is much too early to be predicting individual medal positions either, half the riders could wipe out tomorrow. :eek::eek:
To suggest Andrew choked is nothing short of ridiculous. He is one of the most seasoned event riders in the world. Hes had bad luck at previous Olympics and was really gunning for an individual. The stoppage was frustrating and uneccessary. The fact that they stopped right after letting the English rider go in torrential rain was odd. The Swedish rider was in tears. Andrew is the consummate horseman. He had his warmup timed perfectly and letting the horse down and rewarming it causes even the best horses to sometimes resist because they think the job is done.
And comparing to Rusty sorry nuts. I was there. Rusty was half way through his test when his music stopped. They did not just run off and get another disk, His test was rescheduled to go at the end. So horse sent back to his stable and was got back out later and completely rewarmed up. Just like a GP horse doing two tests in a day. Completely different to putting an already warmed up horse on hold for 10 minutes.
And fir the record there was no lightening. There was thunder only and they did not stop the later tests which went with loud thunder claps through them. The types of lightening exoerienced in the US is also different. Flashes are not Bolts that come earhwards. No one was at risk.
A little understanding goes a long way.
If anyone has a complaint it’s the Swedish rider who was just circling the ring and was just about to enter when his test was called off. Why is Nicholson getting all the press? At least he had time to adjust his warm up. The Swedish dude had to completely mentally reset himself and his horse.
Watching Mark Todd today brought me to tears, literally. I’m so in awe of him, and have so much respect for him, that watching him close out the phase with a LOVELY test completely and unexpectedly overwhelmed me. :sadsmile:
Andrew Nicholson is my latest infatuation. Watching his XC at WEG last year in person was truly AMAZING. 
And, I understand his thoughts about the hold.
[completely excluding lightning, which is a whole other ballgame]
How many here have competed in what would appear to be worse weather conditions than what it looked like (online) today? I would bet a bunch. I was fortunate enough to watch Bruce run XC in that massive downpour at Rolex some years ago. :eek: A friend and I stood in that rain because “heck, if Bruce can run in it, surely we can stand in it just to watch!”
So, I can easily imagine that Andrew, as an eventer of similar background, would think, “Are you KIDDING? This is eventing!” I also get the point about warming the horse up optimally, based on an exact ride time. That’s something everybody tries to work towards, right? And, isn’t exact ride times one of the most appreciated aspects of eventing?
Do I wish he hadn’t said it, particularly because of the feedback such as in this thread? YES. :yes: Should he be expected to suck it up and be a pro? Yeah, probably. :yes: But, do I understand how he could feel that way? Yes, to that too. :yes:
Wishing Andrew and Toddy ALL THE BEST tomorrow!
The Swedish rider is getting press. He was in tears. But as he was not a medal contender the press is not so interested in him.
Apart from Mark Todd the Kiwi team do it all on a shoestring.
There are no sponsorships or rich owners. The NZ Federation does not have money to support the riders or pay for much. The riders pay their own way.
Most of the owners are the riders themselves who buy and sell horses to live.
So yes its a big deal for Andrew. Its his paycheck. His means of survival. This is heartbreaking for him.
He so wanted an individual medal and knew his horse was capable of doing a far better test. He would have happily ridden it in torrential rain. Kiwis arent precious. You can count the number of indoor rings in NZ on your hands. We ride outdoors rain hail and shine.
Lets hope its pouring with rain and slippery as hell for the Xcountry,. Andrew and the rest of the Kiwis will show the hothouse flowers how its really done.
I just looked it up in my old Chronicles. Per the Chronicle for Olympics 2000 results, they had had the final break and entered the final set of 5 horses for the freestyle. Rusty went second in that final set of 5. CD malfunction, and he was excused while the remaining three horses in the set went, at which point he returned. That doesn’t sound like sent back, stabled, let down, then completely rewarmed up later to me. I wasn’t there, just read about it, but the Chronicle spells out the timing specifically. Three horses went in between leaving the ring and re-entering.
There was a time (during his marriage to Jayne) when Andrew had more rides (and owners) than even WFP has now. Don’t know what happened to change that, but he has been in a much better position than many of the other Kiwis as far as horseflesh and owners at one time. And he is always complaining about something. And he is not out of medal contention, there is a lot of jumping to take place before the end of the event.
Dressagetraks as I said I was there. And yes the break was considerable enough that the horse was returned to its stable and rewarmed up. Big difference.
BAC you clearly have a beef against Andrew. Yes he had more horses at one time. Have you heard there is a recession on? Hes far from a wealthy person he works damned hard to get by unlike alot of other riders with wealthy owners.
No one is denying he mouthy. Hes a country Kiwi. Hes no shrinking violet. So what? He stands up for what is right and is not shy at expressing his opinion. So Shoot him for it. Should he have broken down in tears like the Swedish rider?
People handle presures differently - who are we to comment, not walking in their shoes. It is their results that got them there.
