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Cantering to Glory The Paris 2024 Olympic Games
Ros Canter (L 02) and her teammates, Laura Collett and Tom McEwen, successfully defended Great Britain’s Olympic eventing team title from Tokyo, providing Team GB with its first gold medal of the Paris Olympic Games this summer.
Ros, the 2018 World Champion and reigning European Champion, was riding Michele and Archie Saul’s Lordships Graffalo (aka Walter), on whom she also won the Badminton Horse Trials last year. The pair was the team anchor, last to go of the three riders.
It was a week of ups and downs, with Ros awarded 15 penalties for ‘missing a flag’ across country in what had looked to be a foot perfect round. Although contested, it put paid to any individual medal hopes.
After the medal ceremony Ros commented: “To get to an Olympic Games is absolutely surreal. I’m extremely proud of Walter. I know he’s won the Europeans and Badminton but he’s only 12 and it feels like we’re still scratching the surface with him. I’m excited he could produce that performance on the world stage. He loves to run, he loves to jump and he loves a crowd, so he’s been in his element.”
“The crowd was incredible, unbelievable. Across country they cheered you before you even got to the jump. I’ve never had that before! The show jumping was hard work and nerve-racking; the atmosphere was intense, like nothing I’ve ever ridden in, and the French crowd were extremely noisy – it was like a pressure pit, to be quite honest. I don’t think I breathed the whole way around – I was mightily relieved to jump the last fence and become an Olympian. I’m unbelievably proud of my horse and the people around me.”
With the addition of the 15 penalties Ros and Walter ultimately finished 21st in the individual competition but proudly won gold in the team event.
In September, Ros also became the new champion of the Defender Burghley Horse Trials, achieving the best finishing score and also winning the Avebury Trophy (awarded for the best ridden cross-country round). We send her congratulations on behalf of the OU community and all at Uppingham for her outstanding achievements.
Ros is one of a small, select group of elite OU athletes that have represented their country at Olympic Games through history. In 1964 David Veit (Fgh 52) went to Tokyo to represent the GB Hockey Team. He recalls his abiding memory of the Tokyo Olympics in 1964:
“We waited for hours under a hot sun before the opening ceremony and then marched through a dark tunnel into an excited and crowded stadium with balloons and doves flying everywhere. That was the most dramatic experience of my life!”
“Those games were well before the Munich Olympics which brought great change. It was a very relaxed atmosphere for us in the Olympic Village and we shared a dining facility with the American team. I can remember sitting next to Bob Hayes, then the fastest man in the world. You could walk out of the Village and hitch a ride with the Japanese who would take you in their car to whichever competitive venue you wanted to visit.
A list of fellow Olympians was published in the OU magazine on page 62 and the OU team would like to pass on thanks to Jerry Rudman, School Archivist, for researching these records.
If you know of any additions to add to the archives, please contact Jerry on jpr@uppingham.co.uk who will be delighted to hear from you.
