The team gold medal was almost decided before the competition started, especially as Germany's main rivals, Holland, lost the services of Edward Gal and Gestion Lingh shortly before the Games. However, the final scores were much closer, as Spain and the USA edged Holland out of the team medals.

Ulla Salzgeber (GER) was odds-on to take the individual gold after the Grand Prix but reigning Olympic champion Anky van Grunsven (NED), third after the team competition, first clawed back most of the deficit in the Grand Prix Special, and produced a brilliant performance in the Freestyle, to become the first dressage rider to retain the individual title riding two different horses. This time she was partnering the 10-year-old, Salinero.

“Salinero was truly brilliant today, particularly in the passage and his pirouettes” said the judge at H, Steven Clarke.

All the top tests are shown in full with extensive highlights from the supporting cast. The individual dressage event, part of the equestrian program at the 2004 Summer Olympics, was held from 19 August to 25 August 2004 at the Olympic Equestrian Centre on the outskirts of Markópoulo, in the Attica region of Greece. Like all other equestrian events, the dressage competition was mixed gender, with both male and female athletes competing in the same division. 53 horse and rider pairs were entered.

Grand Prix Freestyle
The final round of dressage competition was the Grand Prix Freestyle Test. Fifteen pairs competed in this round, in which they designed their own program of movements set to music. They were judged on both execution of the movements (technical) and how well their performance matched the music (artistic).

FINAL RESULTS
Anky van Grunsven, Netherlands
Ulla Salzgeber, Germany
Beatriz Ferrer-Salat, Spain
Deborah McDonald, United States

Team Dressage
10 teams, each consisting of four horse and rider pairs, entered the contest. The team event used the points from the first round of competition. 40 of the 52 pairs that competed in the individual event were members of a team. Each team consisted of four pairs of horse and rider. The scores of the top three pairs from each team were averaged to get the team score.

FINAL RESULTS Germany- 74.563
Spain- 72.917
United States- 71.500

Added to Collection: 01/02/2009
Run time: 240 mins

Genres: FEI Competitions, Dressage