Dubbeldam triumphs in jump-off

Celebrations in Heineken House at Darling Harbour reached fever pitch over the weekend as Holland's Olympic gold medal haul grew…

Celebrations in Heineken House at Darling Harbour reached fever pitch over the weekend as Holland's Olympic gold medal haul grew. But as well as Leontine Morsel's third cycling victory and the successful defence of the hockey crown, the Dutch also had two individual wins in the equestrian events at Horsley Park to toast.

On Saturday Anky van Grunsven finally got the better of her arch rival Isabell Werth to take individual gold in the dressage and, 24 hours later, her compatriot Jeroen Dubbeldam triumphed in a three-way jump-off for the show jumping, with Albert Voorn boosting the Dutch medal tally in silver.

Dubbeldam's win came about in a most unexpected fashion when red-hot favourite Rodrigo Pessoa crashed out in the final round. The stallion Baloubet du Rouet had already hit the first fence, but Pessoa could have forced a four-way jump-off if he could leave all the rest of the fences standing. To the horror of the noisy Brazilian supporters, however, Baloubet jammed on the brakes at the big double and then executed two action replays to wipe him out.

That left Dubbeldam, Voorn and Saudi Arabia's Khaled Al Eid to fight for gold against the clock and Voorn was drawn first of the trio. Riding the stallion Lando, Voorn was clear right to the very last, the Athens 2004 upright, but that fell to leave Dubbeldam to uphold Dutch honour.

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With De Sjiem - The Grey One - tuned and ready to jump for his life, Dubbeldam brought him home through the finish flags clear in 50.65 to put in his bid for gold. And it was a challenge that 31-year-old Khaled Al Eid simply couldn't answer. When the second fence fell, the Dutch were already celebrating gold and, when the Saudi shot through the finish, a mere .14 of a second denied him the silver to give Holland the one-two.