Great Britain came top in the Rio 2016 equestrian medals table after winning seven golds and four silvers, but in the run-up to Latin America's first Paralympic Games there was a feeling their dominance could be challenged by the surging Dutch team, who defeated them at last year's Europeans. The Dutch-British rivalry in equestrian makes it No. 35 in the International Paralympic Committee's (IPC) Top 50 Moments. Since its Paralympic debut at Atlanta 1996, the British team had yet to lose the team title, and had always topped the medals table at European and World Championships. But the team's superiority in the sport had taken a few significant knocks in the years leading up to Rio 2016 as other countries, particularly the Netherlands, began to catch up. At the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Game in 2014, for example, the Netherlands' Rixt Van der Horst won both the grade II individual and freestyle titles in her major international debut, beating London 2012 champion Natasha Baker. ... ( More) |
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