Equestrian at the 1960 Summer Olympics

The Equestrian Events at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome included dressage, eventing, and show jumping. Eventing and show jumping presented both individual and team medals, dressage presented only individual medals. The competitions were held from September 5, 1960, to September 11, 1960. 159 entries, including 8 women, competed from 30 nations: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Egypt, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Great Britain, Democratic Republic of Germany (GDR), Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Rumania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Uruguay, and the USA. The youngest participant was Min Gwan-Gi from South Korea at 18 years old, while the oldest rider was Lilian Williams from Great Britain at 65 years old.

There were two separate jumping competitions for individual and team medals, the first time this had occurred since 1920. 69 riders from 23 countries competed, and more than half of the riders had faults at either the 5 meter water jump or the triple combination, which had very odd distances. 9 of the 18 teams did not finish the first round. Although they were considered eliminated under Olympic rules, the Technical Delegate chose to implement a rule allowing eliminated riders to continue with a score that was equal to the worst non-eliminated rider, plus 20 additional penalties. This allowed all 18 teams to jump in the second round.

The individual medals were fought out between the two d’lnzeo brothers, Raimondo and Piero, David Broome, and Argentinean Naldo Dasso. The first round saw Raimondo d’lnzeo and Posillipo with the single clear, followed by Naldo Dasso with 4 penalties, and Piero d’lnzeo and his mount Max Fresson with eight. David Broome (7 penalties) had the best ride of the second round, while Piero d’lnzeo and Hans-Günter Winkler each had 8 faults, and the leader, Raimondo d’lnzeo had 3 rails down for 12 faults. Raimondo d’lnzeo's final score of 12 was still enough to win the gold, followed by his brother Piero and David Broome.

The 1952 Olympics created some serious changes for the dressage competition at the 1960 Games. The previous Games had resulted in a serious judging scandal after the German and Swedish judges favored their own countrymen. These two judges were subsequently suspended by the FEI. Following this controversy, the IOC threatened to remove dressage from the Olympics, but the FEI managed to come to a compromise, removing the team competition from the 1960 Games and only allowing individual competitors (up to 2 per country). Additionally, 3 of the judges had to be from non-participating countries, and ride-offs were filmed and reviewed for a day before the final results were announced publicly.

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