• London 2012 - Equestrian

Dressage gold for Great Britain

ESPN staff
August 7, 2012
Carl Hester waves to the crowd in the dressage © PA Photos
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Britain's superb equestrian competition has brought another gold, with the team tasting victory in the Olympic dressage for the first time.

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Just 24 hours after the showjumping triumph and following on from the eventing silver medal, Charlotte Dujardin held her nerve in the final ride aboard Valegro to secure a 20th medal of the Games for GB - surpassing the 19 won in Beijing.

Germany were viewed as favourites, having won the event in Beijing four years ago, but backed by a partisan crowd in Greenwich Park, Laura Bechtolsheimer, Carl Hester and Dujardin took gold with the German team forced to settle for silver and Netherlands bronze.

Hester scored an Olympic record for his stage of the event with an 80.571 on Uthopia, Bechtolsheimer and Alf produced 77.794 and Dujardin and Valegro scored 83.286 to snuff out the threat of Germany.

"It is an old cliche but I have spent so many years dreaming of this but it is now finally happening," a delighted Hester told the BBC."Those girls are cool customers.

"With every sport that has won a gold medal at the Games, it has just shot our sport into a totally different league.

"I have gone to three Olympics with no expectations and it is easy to ride like that. But to come to an Olympics where we were possibly expected to get a gold medal was a frightening feeling. I have enjoyed, it is pretty special for British dressage."

Meanwhile, in windsurfing, Britain's Nick Dempsey secured a silver medal in the men's RS:X class.

Dressage Team

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