Olympic Insight with Robert Dover
PRACTICAL HORSEMAN: What were your overall impressions of the event? ROBERT DOVER: First, I think the Japanese organizers did an incredible job under the most difficult and complicated circumstances possibly of any Olympics in the history of the modern games. They should be commended for not only the organization of the competitions, but also the infrastructure and their ability to pull this whole thing off with so few negative consequences. I think that everybody, if asked, would say that it is a hard call to decide whether it is morally or ethically correct to put on this amazing event considering what the public outside of the arena is going through, especially the Japanese people. It’s so difficult to know whether it’s right or wrong, good or bad. But in watching it all, I would say that it certainly gave the world something positive to watch while we’re all going through this.
“When you’re further along in your career and you’re not on your way up, you must be the anchor for so many years. It’s not easy to be in those shoes or those boots.”
PH Could you explain the new format used for these Games? What are your thoughts on it?
The three-man team is not new to either dressage or jumping. In 1984, we had a three-man team with the reserve exactly the same. The difference was that in 1984, there was no freestyle. Back then, the team event was the Grand Prix, and the Grand Prix Special determined the individual medals. Then with the advent of the freestyle, we ended up having another kind of format that had the Grand Prix, the Grand Prix Special and the Grand Prix Freestyle. The
