The Saudi equestrian Olympic rider Kamal Bahamdan missed out on individual bronze medal glory in Greenwich Park by the smallest of margins.
Competing against the finest and most experienced show jumpers, Bahamdan was beaten into fourth place with 2 time faults, one from each round, just a second or two between a podium place and an honorable fourth place. The battle for silver went into a tiebreak between the Netherlands and Ireland, which the Netherlands won with a clear round.
With three of the team qualified through to the individual show jumping finals, Saudi equestrian team started their last day at the Olympic Games with a good showing. Abdullah Al Sharbatly did not qualify for the finals, leaving Prince Abdullah bin Miteb, Ramzy Al Duhami and Kamal Bahamdan to carry the hopes of the Kingdom forward.
The Saudi team has gained great respect over the period of the Games, the live commentary being both informed and enthusiastic.
First into the arena on Noblesse Des Tess, Bahamadan, drew praise from the commentary team. “Saudi Arabia – what a performance they have put up, they have won bronze medal – it’s their first team medal. They have only ever won three medals in the Olympics and the first team medal they have ever won. They have put up a fantastic performance” said commentator Michael Tucker.
The course was forcing faults, in particular time faults, but one that was proving particularly hazardous was the four-meter wide water jump.
Noblesse was impressive, with great ability, a gutsy approach and an obvious willingness to engage with Bahamdan she addressed the jumps with energy and precision jumping to a clear round. She cleared the water jump with a real verve and left the run in clear for Bahamdan. The time allowed for the completion of the 520-meter course was set at 88 seconds and skimming just over that, Bahamadan received a penalty of one point for an otherwise perfect clear round, no fences down.
This round placed Bahamdan firmly into the group of 22 riders that would go forward to the second round.
Ramzy Al Duhami on Bayard followed immediately after Bahamdan, Tucker noting that that he replaced Sydney Games bronze medalist Khaled Al Eid, but that, “The four that are here have done their country proud.” After a good start with Bayard looking keen, Al Duhami unexpectedly clipped the White Horse fence, one of the easier jumps, for four faults.
This seemed to unsettle the pair. At last the two-part combination, Al Duhami went ragged as a result of “a bit of an argument coming into the combination” between Al Duhami and Bayard (as commentator Andy Austin put it ) and downed a fence for four faults as he realized that the time limit was pressing.
One more down and Al Duhaimi was out of medal contention finishing the round on a 12-point penalty, as at this stage five riders had clear rounds ahead of him a and there was a slew of one and four faulters.
Last into the ring for the Kingdom was Prince Abdullah bin Miteb on the 12 year-old Davos. Prince Abdullah was stretched to control Davos through the double that had caused Al Duhami a problem and then clipped two more to attract eight faults. The pair settled and cleared the final five fences of the round just outside the 80-second time limit and scored nine faults.
This left Al Bahamdan, with one time fault, as the sole Saudi team member with a medal chance.
Bahamdan worked hard over the first few fences, fully aware of the time pressure and needed to be settled into double combination and took control of Noblesse who responded magnificently.
Riding with style, precision, grace, control, poise, balance and caution — a caution that was to cost Kamal another one point time fault after his second clear round.
As Bahamdan went clear the appreciative crowd cheered then commiserated as they realized Bahamdan had just slipped over the time limit once again, clocking 83.45 seconds.
Following Bahamdan, who was still in contention for a silver or bronze medal with only two penalty point and with six zero-point riders to go, the competition was wide open.
The Team GB favorite 2012 gold medallist Nick Skelton picked up four points, and other riders collected faults until Bahamdan lay fourth with only two points.
However, the competition went to a win for Switzerland’s Steve Guerdat on Nino Des Buisonnets and a tie between Netherlands’ Gerco Schroeder on London and Ireland’s Cian O’Connor riding Blue Lloyd, a horse he bred and trained, for silver and bronze. The decider was a jump-off over a shortened course between Schroeder and O’Connor.
The final outcome was that Schoeder went clear and O’Connor picked up four points, so gold for Guerdat, silver for Schroeder and bronze for Ireland’s O’Connor.
