Rio 2016: Dramatic finish in team eventing leaves Australia with bronze, behind France and Germany

Updated

Australia has taken the bronze medal in the eventing team competition after a dramatic finish that went down to the final rider.

Australia had led the team competition after the cross-country leg, but with the elimination of Shane Rose, the team had to count all three rounds in the jumping final.

Stuart Tinney had 17 penalties on Pluto Mio, which put Australia out of first place. Sam Griffiths then went clear on his horse Paulank Brockagh to put Australia back in the race for gold.

It set up a frantic finish, where a clear round from German world number one Michael Jung put his team in the gold medal position, only for France to take over with a clear from Nicolas Astier on Piaf de b'Neville.

Olympic eventing legend Mark Todd - who won his first of two individual titles in Los Angeles in 1984 - had a chance to give New Zealand the lead, but he had four rails down on Leonidas II to push the team out of the medals.

The final competitor Chris Burton - who had led the individual competition after the cross-country - had a chance to give Australia the gold with a clear round. He had two rails down, however, leaving his team in the bronze medal position and securing the Olympic title for France.

Burton finished fifth and compatriot Griffiths was fourth in the individual jumping final.

Burton said while the team was happy to take bronze behind France and Germany, he could not help thinking about what might have been.

"Look there's always a lot of pressure when you jump in three day eventing in reverse order in pole position, but I was happy with the way everything went," he said.

"The horse has really exceeded our expectations this week but of course it's disappointing to have two down.

"There really is a proud history for Australia. I led the Olympic Games going into the show jumping, so that's something they can never take away from me."

Topics: sport, olympics-summer, equestrian, brazil

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