INQUIRER Sports

HONG KONG -- Anky van Grunsven of the Netherlands made history here Tuesday when she became the first rider to win three consecutive Olympic individual dressage gold medals.

In a stunning performance at the Shatin arena, she and her black gelding Salinero claimed their victory with a 2.03 percent margin over long-time rival, Germany's Isabell Werth.

Her final score was 78.68 percent.

Van Grunsven, 40, adds the gold medal to those she won in the individual dressage competitions as the Sydney Games in 2000 and in Athens in 2004.

Werth, riding Satchmo, claimed the silver medal with a final score of 76.65 percent.

In third place was Heike Kemmer, riding Bonaparte in her second Olympics to a final score of 74.455 percent.

She takes home her third gold medal, having been on the winning German dressage teams in Athens and here in Hong Kong.

Van Grunsven, riding in her fifth Olympics, said she went into the competition feeling the pressure of expectation, with the two previous Olympic individual medals to her name.

"There was a lot of pressure," she told reporters after her win.

"In Athens I didn't feel like I had anything to lose because I was riding Salinero for the first time in the Olympics. But this time I really felt like I had to win the medal to keep up my standard.

"It is unbelievable to win three golds in a row, with two different horses. I am the most spoilt person in the world," she said, referring to Bonfire, the horse she won with at the Sydney Olympics.

Dressage is something of a pursuits' discipline, often called "equine ballet" as the horses are put through a series of 36 movements, based on cavalry training techniques developed in Europe in the Middle Ages.

With barely perceptible movements, the rider instructs the horse to demonstrate obedience, relaxation and agility in a routine lasting around six minutes and set to music, to which the horse appears to dance.

Werth's performance was marred by an expensive mistake less than half-way through her performance when Satchmo stopped as she appeared to lose control of him.

She said later that had Satchmo stayed within her control throughout, "it would be very exciting between Anky and me".

But she said she knew that the mistake she made in the first round on Saturday -- when Satchmo shied violently, costing her around eight percent -- had lost her the gold medal.

The final score is reached by adding and then halving the percentages awarded in each of the two rounds, the Grand Prix Special and the Grand Prix Freestyle.

"He was scared in the piaffe in the Special," she said, referring to the movement, one of 36 required, during which Satchmo had shied in the first component of the individual contest.

"He didn't forget that. The whole atmosphere has made him a bit scared," she said. "But I lost it in the special, that's for sure."

Van Grunsven confirmed her plans to retire from Olympic competition, saying that she would bow out of international competition all together in two years, when Salinero is 16 years old.

She has said she wants to spend time with her two young children.

Kemmer heaped praise on Bonaparte, her bay gelding, saying "I'm really proud of him, he did a super job".

In fourth place was Peter Steffens of the USA, who rode Ravel to a score of 74.150 percent, and in fifth was Peter Hans Minderhoud on Nadine on 73.035 percent.

The individual dressage final was the fifth of a total of six medals on offer at the equestrian events being held in Hong Kong, rather than Beijing, as Olympics organizers were not able to guarantee a disease-free environment for the horses.

Germany has picked up three gold medals, in the team and individual eventing and the team dressage, while the team jumping gold went to the United States. The individual jumping final is set for Thursday.