McDermott riding high at Youth Olympics

Tom McDermott in action at the Youth Olympic Games
2010 Youth Olympic Games
Photograph:SYOGOC

Alice Wheeler, Australian Olympic Committee [URL="http://www.olympics.com.au"]www.olympics.com.au[/URL], Tuesday, 24 August 2010

Australia's Tom McDermott has today finished in eighth spot at a thrilling final of the individual equestrian.

It was a tight and challenging course and out of the 28 riders there were only seven clean rounds. Jump number four, representing the iconic Singapore Flyer saw a number of horses come unstuck, with the unusual stride required causing nearly all riders to falter and knock the rails.

McDermott and Hugo were the 21st pair to compete, having finished the first round of jumping with zero penalties, along with eight others.
McDermott followed Marcelo Chirico of Uruguay who cleared the round to have a total of zero penalties sitting him in the gold medal position.
Both McDermott and Hugo looked comfortable and confident coming into the course and they cleared the first 10 jumps with only slight taps on a couple of rails.
Coming into the 11th jump, Hugo faltered and despite McDermott’s best efforts he was unable to correct the jump and the rail hit the ground, costing four penalty points.

“Very very disappointing,” McDermott said after the run.
“I couldn’t have done much more. It happened at the last second. I’m not very happy. He jumped the rest of the course so good. It’s just a shame, he came up to that fence, looked at it and I couldn’t do much about it.”
McDermott and Hugo finished the course in 85.89 seconds and with seven riders still to compete, it seemed that his Youth Olympic Games were over.
“This was probably the best run he has jumped. It’s the best he has warmed up outside and he was feeling really fresh yesterday. We put liniment on his body which made him a lot cooler and he was really happy.”
What happened next however no one could have predicted.
The next six riders all clocked penalties and with one rider left, the medals hung in the balance.

Colombian Mario Gamboa on Lh Titan produced a clean run, meaning that the results were tied, forcing a jump-off.
Gamboa was set to jump-off against Chirico for gold, while McDermott was recalled to the stables to prepare Hugo to jump-off for bronze against five others who also incurred four penalties.
The bronze medal jump-off started with Syrian Mohamad Alanzarouti on Van Diemen, getting four penalties. This was matched by Abdurahman Al Marri from Qatar.
McDermott was third out and he knew he had a hard job ahead of him having ridden Hugo in a difficult team jump-off days earlier.
Hugo balked at the second jump and McDermott showed his riding prowess in getting the horse to continue although it cost valuable penalty points and time. They finished the course in 52.18 with eight penalties to finish eighth overall.
“A lot of people are saying he is the greenest horse in the competition,” McDermott said after the competition. “As much as they are saying that I did a fantastic job to get him to that fence he didn’t want to go to, I am still disappointed in both of us, but I can’t do much about it now.”
The bronze medal was won by 18-year-old Dalma Rushdi H Malhas from Saudi Arabia. As the result was finalised, she could not contain her excitement in winning a medal, especially given she is the first Saudi Arabian girl to represent her country in equestrian.
In the jump-off for gold, Uruguay grabbed gold with Chirico producing a perfect course for zero penalties and a time of 42.35. Gamboa had a tough run with a very hard knock on the second jump but happily walked away with silver.
“I am very happy with the result though and for the people that won,” McDermott said.
“I would have loved to get the gold but I am going home with one medal so I can’t be disappointed with that.”