Flying Horses

On our second day in Paris we got up early and hopped on a train to Versailles for our first Olympic event.  I was the third day of the three day eventing which is an equestrian event that consists of competition over three consecutive days.  The first day is Dressage, the second day is Cross Country and the third day is Show Jumping.  Grueling for horse and rider.

We arrived at the train station and they had shuttle buses lined up to take everyone to the venue which was on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles.  We arrived just as the gates were opening at 9:30 so there was a long queue waiting to get in.

The walk from the gate to the venue was along one (I'd say a mile) through a beautiful and slightly muddy forest.  

Ambulance for horses arrived just as we did.

This is the view from the stadium--the Palace of Versailles is way down there.  Stunning view!

This was the hottest day of our visit--around 96 degrees.  We climbed up to our perfect seats shortly before the competition was to begin.  The sun was beating down on us, thank goodness for hats, sunscreen, and my new neck fan which was used often during this trip due to the high temps.  I highly recommend that everyone get one.

Right past the arena you'll notice a swimming pool.  The modern pentathlon was held here also.  I just read that the horse jumping will no longer be included in the pentathlon after this year.

All the horse and rider combinations came out for a turn around the course.  Each and every one of them was greeted with thunderous applause and cheering.  It was a beautiful sight to see how welcoming the mostly French crowd was!

It's a timed event so whoever goes fastest with the fewest faults wins.

A team consists of three riders so their times are combined with the previous two day's results to determine the rankings.

After all the riders were finished there was a break while the course was readjusted.  The top 25 riders in the standings are invited back in to compete for individual awards.  

During the break we had to go down to get some ice cold beverages because it was so hot.  Here's something all the Olympic venues did that made no sense to us.  If you ordered water or a soda that comes in a plastic bottle, you had to pay a deposit for a plastic cup then the vendor would pour the contents of the plastic bottle into a plastic cup.  At the end of the day you can return your plastic cup for a 2 Euro refund.  It was time consuming and inefficient because everyone just left their plastic cups laying around.  Irv thought he'd become rich by gathering up all the cups and taking them back for the deposit, but no luck.  Each person could only return three.

At the end of the competition it was time for the medal ceremonies.  They torn everything down and set up the podium in a matter of minutes.  Very efficient!

Great Britain took the Gold, France the Silver, and Japan the Bronze.

Even though my team wasn't at the top of the rankings, it still brought a tear to my eye to hear Great Britain's national anthem.  The Olympic spirit is really a thing.

The Japanese team was perhaps my favorite.  They had to make a substitution so their team actually consisted of four members and each of them got a bronze medal.  They were absolutely elated and so much fun to watch.  The fourth team member didn't have his horse in the arena but he ran along beside his team cheering the entire time.  They were also the only team that stayed to watch the individual awards.  Such great sportsmanship!

The individual medals when to Germany, Austria, and Great Britain!

Then it was time to leave and this is where a language barrier and not paying close attention caused some pain.  We took the first turn we came to that said exit thinking it would lead us back to the shuttlebuses and the train station.  Nope, this was a grand tour through the gardens of Versailles and the the town of Versailles. We kept going up and down hills along the longest straightaways and there was never any sign of a shuttlebus. All the roads were blocked off so we couldn't even call and Uber or Taxi to come retrieve us.  It was hot, we had no water and our feet were aching.  Eventually we made it to the town and stopped at the first store for cold drinks then continued the 2.5 mile walk to the train station.

If only we'd stopped and asked one of those 45,000 volunteers that we saw at the beginning of the route we could have saved lots of steps.  By the way, the volunteers were fantastic!