How does Michael Jung pronounce his surname? I keep thinking it is pronounced like the German word “jung” – and like Carl Jung – but Randy Moss kept pronouncing it like the English word “young.” I’ve heard a couple of British commentators at other competitions pronouncing it like German “jung.” So …
Which is the correct pronunciation?
Or does Randy Moss pronounce it “young” for a similar reason to that of the NBC studio anchor referring to Robin Godel as “she”?
On one of these threads someone posted what the correct pronunciation was and it sounds like young when it is played.
It’s technically Jung that’s almost like “yoong”, but English doesn’t have that sound so Young is also correct. It’s not Jung with a “j” sound like giraffe.
Yes, I don’t think that anyone was thinking of pronouncing the German Jung with a hard J. Especially not when it is an internationally renowned name that is very well known to most everyone that follows horse sport.
Yeah I was confused as to what else they could be thinking it was being mispronounced as, that was the only other thing I could think of. The difference between “Young” and the almost “Yoong” didn’t seem like that huge of a difference and both are fine to say, so I wasn’t sure if that’s what they were talking about. Threw the “j” bit in there just to cover all bases 
A nitpick, I admit. Lucinda Green was never first and second at Badminton. Ian Stark is the only rider with this accolade, and he is fiercely proud of it - just listened to a great podcast where he discussed this.
So what does everyone think the US needs to do to improve?
Compete against the best more regularly.
Event less, train more.
Focus less on being famous and more on the task at hand.
Before I get hated for that comment…the US team was all over social media, all day every day. Even on the podcasts they were saying the US was this big entourage everywhere they went.
While that was happening, MJ was riding at home, in an old T shirt working on his dressage test with no one around but his wife around. A quiet ring, just them. He posted a small clip on insta and that’s all you saw of him until they left. He seemed very focused vs the US who did not.
Just my very smurf opinion.
it is really too bad Liz didn’t make the trip. She did compete regularly over there and she did pretty well too. I don’t think anyone was happy with the dressage. The test sucked but the only test I thought was GOOD was Michi. We weren’t the only ones with rails, lots of rails fell, but still we have to not be so tired after xc. I am mostly pleased that we completed as a team but there is a lot of work to do.
@Larksmom you asked for it - everyone knows I love a good, overly long recap post worth just the paper its written on. Here we go!
I surprised myself. I went into this being vehemently opposed to three-to-a-team. I really thought the drop score was necessary for horse welfare reasons. But with the addition of “non-completion” penalties, that argument somewhat goes away, and I actually really liked that every round mattered on Saturday. I thought it felt more true to the sport, in some ways - after all, you get the crack you get at a 5*, and if it doesn’t go to plan (veterinary, farrier, rider error, or otherwise), you don’t win that one. This made it more exciting, more interesting, and more understandable to the average viewer. I’m actually into it.
I don’t like the travelling reserves. At first, I thought they were necessary, but the more I think about it, the more I think it should just be a team of three, and everyone else stays home. I have the following thoughts:
I agree with @Texarkana on this one:
As much as it would suck, if you go to a 5* and pull a shoe and can’t jog, your event is over and better luck next time. I think this should be true for Olympic teams as well - take your non-completion penalties and move on.
I’ve seen a few people commenting that they don’t like that a fresh horse could come in for show jumping, or that horses eliminated on xc (for non-welfare reasons) could come back for show jumping. As long as the rider has been medically cleared, I don’t mind them show jumping - it’s no different than Boyd falling from his first horse at Kentucky and riding his second. I think it’s stupid to use team/venue/horse/rider time and resources on travelling reserves, but I don’t care that fresh horses can come in and show jump, for reasons @Texarkana also outlined:
The substitution (if applicable) comes with a penalty score and is usually in the place of a rider who didn’t complete xc and therefore already incurred a huge non-completion penalty as well, and a fall also incurs that big non-completion penalty. Therefore allowing them to show jump doesn’t affect the rankings/scoring in any material way (and the combination isn’t getting an individual score). So while I think it’s a waste of everyone’s time, I’m not morally opposed to it.
This has been the Olympic format for quite some time - I think since Athens? I actually like it. It’s unique to the Olympics (it came about because it satisfies an Olympic requirement - the same performance cannot make someone eligible for two medals, so you have the first round of show jumping for the team results and the “individual qualifier” and then you have the “individual final”).
I like that it allows certain types of horses to shine more than they would in other settings. Badminton, Burghley, and Kentucky highlight Ballaghmor Class because he’s an xc machine. The Olympics highlights Toledo de Kerser because he’s one of the best show jumpers in the world. When you hear that a horse is Olympic champion, you know it means something different than Burghley winner, and to me, that’s okay. Both are significant achievements in their own way. The true greats of the sport (La Biosthetique Sam) can do both, which only highlights how special they truly are.
I think it was appropriate for the conditions. The horses were tested, both technically due to course design and endurance-wise due to the conditions and the hills. I think it was an appropriate level of difficulty, and this was proven out by seeing elite level combinations faulting when really going for it (ex. Viamant de Matz), but seeing developing nations come home clear and safe with plenty of time when making good decisions and using the long routes (ex. China).
In a perfect world, we would definitely stop planning them in the tropics in July, but if we’re going to keep doing that, I think this course was well-designed for the situation.
I actually really liked the shortened dressage test. It asked all the same questions, and was very cleverly designed such that truly well-trained horses handled it without difficulty, but horses who were not quite at the level were very obvious. I certainly couldn’t do it myself, but I liked the length, I liked the technicality, and I liked the design. I hope to see it again, and not just at the Olympics.
See my comments above for cross-country and substitution rules, but for me testing a horse’s endurance isn’t about the specs on paper, it’s about the stress placed on the horses and how they handle it. An 8 minute track with Wet Bulb Globe Temperatures of the level we saw in Japan can put as much or more endurance strain on the horses as Badminton or Burghley (listen to the Eventing Podcast Hold Box series for scientific data about this presented by veterinarians). The technicality wasn’t at the level of Badminton or Burghley, but nor was it supposed to be. Many direct routes were similar to the 4S at Kentucky, and I think that’s appropriate. It’s different, but that’s okay.
There was no day off for competitors. They went cross-country on Sunday morning and show jumped Monday night. It was a gap slightly more than 24 hours due to scheduling within the days (for weather-related horse welfare reasons), but there was no off day, nor do I know of plans to introduce one (except at the 2018 WEG when there was that whole hurricane thing).
A few other thoughts:
Agreed. My understanding is that, per FEI rules, you have to use a yellow MIM on fences that are meant to be jumped on an angle (and after watching the gates that didn’t deploy at Burghley, I think that’s a really important innovation). The problem is that not every rider jumped the face of that corner on an angle. There were multiple ways to ride that line, and some approached the front rail more on a direct line (perpendicular to the front rail, which increased the spread of the corner, but that is a calculated decision available to them and it worked well for their horses). This meant there was a “direct tap” on a fence that was designed to break at an “indirect hit”, and apparently those two forces are equivalent.
I didn’t see Michael Jung’s footage as it’s not public, but Sam Watson’s footage appears to show a fence that I do not believe needed to deform for safety reasons. But as @Gardenhorse said, some other combinations REALLY needed that fence to be frangible, or else we would have had some terrible situations. I’m not sure what the answer is. Riders need to be allowed the flexibility to navigate the fence in different ways, because that’s what xc riding is all about, but rotational falls obviously must be prevented. Back to the drawing board on this one?
In general, I believe there is no blame to lay for this accident. The course was safe, the footing was well-prepared, this is a horse that had been ridden up to 5* level and continued to be actively coached by Andrew Nicholson (so I refuse to believe it wasn’t fit).
That said, I know from the aforementioned Hold Box podcasts that among other things at the Olympic clinic, there is a state-of-the-art imaging machine that had all the vets geeking out. It may not have helped in this specific case - we’ll never know - but perhaps for events like this it could become policy that during the period where the horses are on site acclimating they could have their limbs imaged to check for hidden vulnerabilities? It is very possible for a previously capable horse to develop issues that cannot be easily identified (see: Alison Springer’s Arthur and his sudden retirement - thankfully before catastrophe occurred). The average person doesn’t have xray vision, but at the Olympics we do. Why not use it?
I know its been around for quite some time now but I disagree that one performance can’t count for both the team and individual medals, that’s just my opinion. Its not fair to the horse to have to jump twice. And I don’t care how good a show jumper Toledo de Kerser is, he’s an EVENTER and cross country is the heart of the three day event and is the most important phase IMO.
You may disagree (I do as well) - but the rule about only one medal per performance is not an eventing rule, it is an IOC rule that applies to all sports. It’s another way that the sport has to be modified to fit in the Olympic template.
And that’s the problem, the IOC doesn’t know enough about equestrian events, they need to stay out of our sports. I would be perfectly happy to eliminate eventing from the Olympics, its been ruined already by some of these stupid rules.
Just an aside but this was the site I was using to follow results and it was great–way better than the one on the Olympics site.
All the iterations of the Olympic scoring were a feed from the Games.
Right? Mai Baum and Tamie were talk of the town. Looking for a great showing at Aachen for them. 
[quote] Ian Stark is the only rider with this accolade, and he is fiercely proud of it - just listened to a great podcast where he discussed this.
[/quote]
For someone not too savvy with podcasts, can you tell me where I might find this one? I’d love to hear it. Thanks!
Will the horses stay overseas? Or come home, and back again?
I hadn’t thought about the fact that some jumped it on an angle and some jumped it more head on. That could definitely be the issue. I guess we now need a combination MIM clip? Although I would certainly rather err on the side of safety than the situation with the gates at Burghley.
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