Rio de Janeiro – August 5, 2016 – The opening ceremonies for the 2016 summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil will be held Friday evening, but earlier in the day the U.S. Eventing Team took its first steps towards the podium when they all passed the initial inspection.
The team includes five-time Olympian Phillip Dutton (West Grove, Pennsylvania) and HND Group’s Mighty Nice (2004 Irish Sport Horse gelding), Lauren Kieffer (Middleburg, Virginia) and Team Rebecca, LLC’s Veronica (2002 Dutch Warmblood mare), Boyd Martin (Cochranville, Pennsylvania) and Blackfoot Mystery Syndicate, LLC’s Blackfoot Mystery (2004 Thoroughbred gelding) and Clark Montgomery (Tetbury, England) and Holly and William Becker, Kathryn Kraft and Jessica Montgomery’s Loughan Glen (2003 Irish Sport Horse gelding).
The travel reserve horse and rider combination for the U.S. Olympic Eventing Team is Lynn Symansky (Middleburg, Virginia) and the Donner Syndicate, LLC’s Donner (2003 Thoroughbred gelding).
Eventing competition will begin on Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 6–7, with individual and team dressage at 9 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. EST. Rides times can be found here: https://smsprio2016-a.akamaihd.net/_odf-documents/E/Q/EQX403300_STARTLIST_2016_08_05.pdf
Rio is one hour ahead of EST, and all times are listed at GMT-3. Martin and Blackfoot Mystery will be the first to represent the United States on Saturday at 10:36 a.m. EST. They will be followed by Montgomery and Loughan Glen at 2:14 p.m. EST, while Keiffer and Dutton follow on Sunday at 11:00 a.m. EST and 2:38 p.m. EST, respectively.
Individual and team cross-country will be held on Monday, Aug. 8, at 9 a.m. EST, while individual and team show jumping as well as the medal ceremony will close out Olympic eventing competition on Tuesday, Aug. 9, at 9 a.m. EST.
