Equestrian: Medal-free equestrians get the message from Todd

New Zealand eventers will have to improve their dressage to avoid a repeat of this week's medal-free OLympic competition, says equestrian team manager Mark Todd.

New Zealand did not recover from poor dressage scores and finished a distant fifth in the Olympic Games three-day team event.

It was the end of a run of five successive Games at which the eventers won at least one medal.

Olympic rookie Heelan Tompkins was the most successful New Zealander, finishing eighth in the individual event.

Matthew Grayling was 15th, and two-time world champion Blyth Tait was 18th.

Daniel Jocelyn and Andrew Nicholson were not among the top 25 riders to contest the individual showjumping round.

Tait, Jocelyn and Nicholson had poor dressage scores and the cross-country course was not difficult enough to allow them to move rapidly up the placings.

Todd, a gold medal rider at the 1984 and 1988 Games, said there were lessons for New Zealand to learn.


"We've got to get our dressage better. It's not always won on the dressage but in 90 per cent of the competitions these days you have to have a good dressage mark."

He said the riders could have planned for that had they known the cross-country was not of the highest class.

New Zealand turned up in Athens with a team of fit jumpers looking for an endurance test.

They would have been better served bringing their best dressage horses.

"It wasn't a competition that really suited us," Todd said.

"We came here with the best team that we had and didn't go well right from the start.

"It was just one of those competitions that didn't work."

- NZPA