France takes first gold in team eventing

France takes first gold in team eventing

August 10, 2016
The gold medal-winning French team (From L) Thibaut Vallette, Karim Laghouag, Astier Nicolas and Mathieu Lemoine study the equestrian jumping course prior to competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro Tuesday. — AP
The gold medal-winning French team (From L) Thibaut Vallette, Karim Laghouag, Astier Nicolas and Mathieu Lemoine study the equestrian jumping course prior to competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro Tuesday. — AP

Jung wins gold for Germany

Life bans urged as dope cheats

RIO DE JANEIRO — France won its first gold medal of the Rio Games in eventing Tuesday in a dramatic show jumping final, rising two places from the cross-country phase after riders from Australia and New Zealand knocked rails down.

Germany had to settle for silver as its Olympics' streak of two team titles ended despite its 2012 individual gold medalist Michael Jung posting a clear round with no penalties.

Australia took bronze while New Zealand, which was in the running for silver after the cross country, slipped to fourth after seven-time Olympian Mark Todd knocked three rails down.

Eventing is a three-phased sport including dressage, cross-country and show jumping. France last won the team gold in Athens in 2004.

Michael Jung successfully defended his Olympic individual eventing title to deliver Germany its first gold medal.

Jung, riding Sam — with whom he also won at London 2012 — produced a flawless round in the concluding jumping phase at the Deodoro equestrian center.

France's Astier Nicolas took silver, with American Phillip Dutton in the bronze position.

Olympics officials, meanwhile, promised to push for life bans for dope cheats, echoing calls from Michael Phelps and Michael Johnson as a bitter drugs row engulfed the Rio Games.

After Phelps said he was angry that convicted dopers were allowed to compete, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said its president Thomas Bach backed lifetime suspensions from the Games.

Earlier, boos had rained down on tainted Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova, who was also slammed by America's Lilly King in extraordinary scenes that were compared to the Cold War.

But an IOC spokesman warned that lifetime bans from the Games were fraught with legal difficulty, signaling they may be hard to push through.

"The president said that for serious doping issues, he would still really like to see a life ban," said IOC spokesman Mark Adams. "There are a number of options we can look at that would certainly I would imagine be one of them but this is all very much within a very difficult legal framework.

"It is something that the president is very keen on and it appears that the public is very keen on it is just a matter of finding a way that is legally sound."

That may not be enough to appease an increasingly restive cohort of athletes who have complained loudly about having dope-tainted competitors in Rio.

Track legend Johnson echoed Phelps on Tuesday when he told AFP that athletes with a record of doping should be shut out of the Olympics.

"I would love them to say that an athlete with even only one ban or one doping offense should miss an Olympics," the 1996 Olympics 400m and 200m champion said.


August 10, 2016
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