Ben Maher (GBR): ”I think we (Team Great Britain) have been progressing over the past three rounds, which is not really what you want to do in the Olympic Games. You probably want to set out as you mean to go on. But Tic Tac felt amazing today. We’ve had a tough week for the team with silly mistakes, but myself and Nick (Skelton) are out for ourselves now. And we are going to try and redeem ourselves.”
Luciana Diniz (POR): "Honestly, I am really happy because my goal today was to qualify for the final. And I am in. So...look, I have goosebumps."
Talking about her mare Fit for Fun: "The first thing I do is I say 'thank you' to her. And she gets a lot of bananas. She is like a monkey, she loves bananas. So that is my way of rewarding her."
Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum GER: - talking about hitting the very last fence on the course today - "Nacho (Fibonacci) jumped super. Maybe I felt like it was over already. I was surprised to see it fall. That was a rider's mistake. I can't blame the horse."
Kent Farrington USA: “I’m thrilled to be here on the team at my first Olympic Games and to win a medal. There is no prouder feeling than representing your country and the silver medal is a great achievement.”
Guilherme Jorge BRA, course designer: “The course was difficult yesterday and today we had four teams on zero so I stepped up the degree of difficulty and played with the time allowed. We had a good result with a number of clears and it shows how high the level of the riders and horses were today. To design an Olympic course in my home country - it doesn’t get better than this!”
Ludger Beerbaum GER: (on the pressure of being the last to ride for Germany):
"You know, when you go in the ring you cannot have all of these thoughts and questions. There was no tactic - I could not have a fault and I should not have one down. But knowing this is not a guarantee that it will happen. So if you start thinking about 'What if, when, why' ... you mess everything up. You should not think such thoughts. Try to stay focused and do your job. You cannot help it if it does not work."
On the emotion of the day: "It was the same rollercoaster for the United States and France and Brazil and Canada. So we have not been in a different position. Everybody was hoping to go clear and do their best and be on the podium."
McLain Ward USA: - on losing Beezie Madden from the team today - "We did not really have an option. Beezie has been our anchor for the better part of a decade and her record of coming through for us is second to none. But we thought we had a strong team, strong horses. And we thought the course was brilliant today - it was real Olympic calibre team jumping. So we are very proud."
