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Seventy-seven competitors from 27 nations participated in the first Jumping Qualifier leading to the Olympic Individual title.

None of the medal winners from Sydney are in Athens to defend their title. Germany is the title holder since Atlanta 1996 and the current European Champion, but the team is missing one important member, since the World Number One, Marcus Ehning, had to withdraw due to an injury to his horse.

Sixteen riders cleared the course without a rail down, among whom 10 within the time allowed of 94 seconds. The ten riders with no penalties are a good mix of well known favourites and surprise successes.

The first one to break the jinx of either penalties or time faults was Peter Wylde (USA) on Fein Cera, directly followed by Italian rider Juan Carlos Garcia on Albin III. Beezie Madden and Authentic was the second American combination finishing with zero penalties.

Thomas Velin (DEN) was not shaken by his very late entry, arriving last Friday to replace a Colombian rider. Carnute jumped well within the time limit, unfazed by the change in climate.

Sweden had two riders without penalties: Malin Baryard with her reliable Butterfly Flip and Peder Fredericson on Magic Bengtsson.

To the delight of the home crowd, Antonis Petris (GRE) was among the 10 best riders on Gredo La Daviere, 10 years old French Gelding by Qredo de Paulstr and Histoire D'Aviere. Antonis Petris is training in the Netherlands with Henk Nooren for two years now. "I don't want to foresee anything," said Petris with a wide smile, "And I take one day after the other". After a break of 10 years, Petris started again to ride at a national level in 1993. These last two years, the Hellenic Equestrian Federation set up an Olympic preparation programme and Petris moved to the Netherlands to train.

Two new Olympic newcomers: Grant Cashmore (NZL) and Wim Schroder (NED) cleared all fences within the time as did the professional old-timer Ludo Philippaerts (BEL), fourth individually at Sydney 2000.

Fence No 9, the "Greek Door" and number 11, a combination called "Vine Trees" proved to be the most difficult obstacles of the course set up by Olaf Petersen (GER) and his course design team.

Muriel Faienza
Communication Manager
Federation Equestre Internationale
m.faienza@horsesport.org
www.horsesport.org
T +41 21 310 47 47

The ten competitor's who jumped double clears are listed below, in the order in which they competed:

Peter Wylde (USA), Fein Cera
Juan Carlos Garcia (ITA), Albin III
Thomas Velin (DEN), Carnute
Malin Baryard (SWE), Butterfly Flip
Antonis Petris (GRE), Gredo La Daviere
Peder Fredericson (SWE), Magic Bengtsson
Grant Cashmore (NZL), Franklin's Flyte
Lido Philippaerts (BEL), Parco
Beezie Madden (USA), Authentic
Wim Schroder (NED), Montreal

Other American scores:

McLain Ward (USA), Sapphire - 1 time fault
Chris Kappler (USA), Royal Kaliber - 4 faults

United States Equestrian Federation, Inc.

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NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 22, 2004

United States Show Jumping Riders Off to Good Start

The U.S. Show Jumping Team got off to a very solid start today in the first individual qualifying round at Markopoulo Equestrian Center. All four team members are among the top tier riders as Beezie Madden, of Cazenovia, NY, and Peter Wylde, an American residing in Maastricht, The Netherlands, had perfectly clear rounds. McLain Ward, of Brewster, NY, had just one time fault and Chris Kappler, of Pittstown, NJ, pulled one rail for four time faults. There were ten clear rounds in all.

"It's an incredible feeling to have such an animal," said Wylde of his mount, a mare named Fein Cera and a veteran international horse. He characterized the course as "difficult but not crazy difficult. . . but for sure the volume is going to get turned up, no question."

We've been excited ever since the Trials about the team we've got," said Beezie Madden. She observed that there were some optical illusions on the course that were a bit tricky, but it certainly didn't seem to bother her gelding Authentic.

This is just the beginning of the show jumping competition which will see both the individual and team medals hotly contested between likely leaders the U.S., Germany, The Netherlands, and France. On Tuesday, August 24th, the second and third qualifier rounds will take place and they will also determine the Team Medals to be awarded that evening. TheIndividual Medals will be decided on Friday evening, August 27th with two final rounds of jumping and then the medal ceremony. Individual riders to watch include all of the U.S. riders, Ludger Beerbaum, of Germany, Rodrigo Pessoa, of Brazil, Marcus Fuchs, of Switzerland, Ludo Philapaerts, of Belgium, and Nick Skelton, of Great Britain.

ENDS

For more information, please contact Maria Partlow, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications on (859) 225-6941 or via email at mpartlow@usef.org. USEF press releases are available on our web site – www.usef.org.