For the first time the history of the Olympic Games, Ireland will have a Dressage team at Tokyo 2020 after the 'Girls In Green' secured Olympic qualification today (Tuesday) after a stunning performance at the Longines FEI European Championships which are taking place at Rotterdam in the Netherlands. It was team Germany who claimed the gold medal, followed by home country, the Netherlands and Sweden.
Germany's Isabell Werth was placed unanimously on the first place in the saddle of the 15-year-old Westfalen-mare, Bella Rose (Bellissimo). The pair rode to a total impressive score of 85.652%. For a while it looked the Great-Britain team would follow on stage with a Silver medal. However Charlotte Dujardin got eliminated after she guided her Mount St. John Freestyle (Fidermark) to 81.91%.
After their ride blood was noticed in Dujardin's horses mount, resulting in an elimination, thus securing the Silver Medal for the hosting country the Netherlands. Fort the orange team Edward Gal was the last to enter the arena. After four years absence on an international stage with Glock's Zonik NOP (Blue Hors Zack), Gal collected 78.758%. "Zonik was more interested in the public or flowers. Only the last 10 minutes I got his full attention. Lucky for us, we got lucky..."
The Sweden team completed the stage claiming bronze.