- Christopher Burton has won silver in the Olympic Games
- Aussie underdog was pipped to gold by Germany’s Michael Jung
- Burton beat Britain’s Laura Collett to silver
Christopher Burton was pipped to an Olympic gold medal in dramatic fashion on Monday, with eventing legend Michael Jung taking the top prize in Paris.
German star Jung won his fourth Olympic gold medal after beating Burton and Britain’s Laure Collett in the final showjumping contest.
Jung, riding on his bay Hannover gelding Chipmunk, won the three-day competition combining dressage, cross-country and showjumping with a final score of 21.8 penalty points, ahead of Burton with 22.4 and Collett with 23.1.
Australian underdog Burton, ranked 151 internationally, won his first individual Olympic medal, beating most of the sport’s heavyweights on a horse with no notable prior achievements in international competitions.
The 42-year-old Queenslander had ditched show jumping for another shot at eventing this year, and his switch paid off handsomely as he steered his brilliant new partner Shadow Man to second place on Monday.
Toowoomba’s Burton, now based in Britain, was lying third overnight after the dressage and cross country sections but moved into the silver-medal position after Monday morning’s qualifying round.
Then on a blazingly hot afternoon against the majestic backdrop of the Chateau, Burton and Shadow Man had no fences down again in the finale to put the pressure on the last rider to go, three-time Olympic champion Michael Jung.
Christopher Burton was denied a fairytale gold medal at the Olympic Games
The Australian underdog thought he had done enough to win gold in the eventing
But he was denied by Michael Jung, with the German winning his fourth Olympic gold
Burton was in sight of earning Australia’s first individual eventing triumph since Matt Ryan piloted Kibah Tic Toc to victory in Barcelona 1992.
But the 41-year-old German great Jung, on Chipmunk FRH, thrived under the ultimate pressure, going clear over the 12-fence course himself inside the 60-second time limit to win on 21.80 penalty points, just 0.60 clear of Burton.
Britain’s Laura Collett, who had earlier led GB to the team title, finished third on 23.10.
Burton and Shadow Man only had their first competition together in March, when British owner Ben Hobday – believing he had no realistic chance of making the Olympics himself amid huge competition in the UK – loaned the horse for six months to his Australian pal.
Now the Australian wants to buy the horse, after falling in love with him in Paris.
‘I spotted him years ago… tried twice to buy him and (co-owner) Ben Hobday was too much in love with him to sell him and I can understand it,’ he said.
Burton, a former eventer who won team bronze in Rio eight years ago, had moved into show jumping but decided in recent months to have another bid for eventing gold, partnering the horse Hobday was convinced is ‘the best in the world’.
