The final of the individual show jumping competition closed the equestrian competition at the Paris Olympics. Brazilian Stephan de Freitas Barcha finished in fifth place, riding the mare Primavera. The event was held in an arena set up in the gardens of the iconic Palace of Versailles, one of France’s main tourist attractions. The 30 teams that qualified for the final had to jump 14 obstacles, each measuring 1.65 meters high, within the time limit of 84 seconds.
Stephan Barcha and Primavera were just 🤏 away from the Olympic podium in #Paris2024!
5th place overall in the show jumping final. Great performance by the Brazilian rider! 👏👏👏 #Equestrian #Olympic Games pic.twitter.com/OpCzUGECZp
— Olympic Games (@JogosOlimpicos) August 6, 2024
Barcha was the 19th rider to perform, and completed the course in an excellent time (80s07), the second best time of the entire competition. However, the Brazilian team committed a fault and was penalized four points, leaving them out of the fight for the podium.
“I am very proud of the whole process, of my mare, without her it would be impossible to be here. 5th place in an Olympics is no small feat. I love the sport, I love my horses,” said the rider from Rio, in a statement to the Brazilian Equestrian Confederation (CBH).
Taking part in the eighth Olympic Games of his career, rider Rodrigo Pessoa, riding the horse Major Tom, also took part in the show jumping final. The team committed several fouls at the beginning and the rider decided not to continue in the competition. Pessoa has three Olympic medals: one gold (Athens 2004) and two bronze (Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000).
Three teams finished the course without faults and competed for the gold medal in the so-called jump-offthe tiebreaker round. The Olympic champion was Christian Kukuk of Germany, riding the horse Checker 47. He was the only one to clear the new course. Steve Guerdart of Switzerland was the silver medalist and Maikel Van Der Vleuten of the Netherlands won the bronze.
