Chris Burton has won an unexpected silver medal in the individual eventing competition for Australia at the Chateau de Versailles, riding a borrowed British horse that he has only been riding for five months.
The 42-year-old Queenslander had swapped his show jumping specialism for a new attempt at eventing this year. His move paid off, as he said he didn’t believe his new partner Shadow Man would be sent to second place.
Burton, from Toowoomba, who now lives in the UK, was third after the dressage and cross-country but moved up to silver after the show jumping qualifying round on Monday morning when she completed a clear round just outside the time limit.
On a scorching hot afternoon, against the majestic backdrop of the castle, the young duo managed to overcome all twelve obstacles in the final.
This gave Burton a shot at Australia’s first individual eventing victory since Matt Ryan on Kibah Tic Toc in Barcelona 1992. He knew that the 41-year-old German great Jung, on Chipmunk FRH, was under enormous pressure.
“I’m not going to lie. I thought we had him for a moment,” Burton smiled as he greeted four-time champion Jung, who became the first man to win three individual eventing golds.
“But I just did a brutal interview on German TV. I said, ‘Mickey, I’ve hated you for so long, but you’re the best of all time, mate.’ He’s great. So there’s no shame in finishing second to that guy.
‘Watching his round, that’s funny. The Germans call it schadenfreude, a nice term. You want to watch, but then you also want to enjoy the moment – and it’s a bit exhausting … I really can’t believe it.’
Christopher Burton (left) was denied a fairytale gold medal at the Olympics
The Australian underdog thought he had done enough to win gold in eventing
But he was stopped by Michael Jung, who won his fourth Olympic gold medal
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Jung won with 21.80 penalty points, 0.60 ahead of Burton. Laura Collett, who earlier led Great Britain to the team title, finished third with 23.10.
Remarkably, Burton and Shadow Man did not compete for the first time until March, after owner and rider Ben Hobday – who was convinced he himself had no chance of competing at the Olympics due to the huge competition in the UK – loaned the horse to his friend for six months, in a rare example of the partnership with the ‘Ashes’ equestrian sport.
Burton, who won team bronze in Rio eight years ago, had moved on to show jumping but decided to give eventing one more try with the gift horse that Hobday convinced him was ‘the best in the world’.
“I’ve been taking a break from eventing for a while, so it’s really nice to come back and have this happen. At the moment I can’t help but think I’m a lucky guy,” said the popular figure known as ‘Burto’ to his teammates.
The idea of a loan was first discussed in January, when Burton admitted his wife Bek was not happy about a return to the dangerous world of eventing.
“Remember, I had a wife who was very angry at me for putting her through all this. I joke about it, but she’s been amazing. She’s made it happen,” explained Burton, who credited Bek with putting together the dazzling, global program that allowed him to qualify.
And as for Shadow Man? ‘A great horse to ride. Isn’t he a machine? Isn’t he a joy? He just jumps off the ground, he’s got reach and he’s got care and he’s a joy,’ beamed Burton.
“I saw him years ago. I always knew he was so good. We tried to buy him twice and Ben was too in love with him to sell him – and I can understand that.
‘And I can’t believe I had this opportunity. And I can’t believe what a great time we had in Paris.
“I’m overjoyed. Everything went well this week. We’re going to sleep well tonight.”