Australia’s Olympic medal loss after ‘devastating’ horse accident in Paris

• Australia’s hopes of a medal in team riding have suffered a setback
• A horse remained lame on Sunday
• This means that their hopes of a medal are as good as over

Australia’s dream of another medal in the team eventing competition has been dashed after one of the horses went lame during the cross-country section on the spectacular Chateau de Versailles course.

Kevin McNab, one of the silver medalists in Tokyo three years ago, made the decision to withdraw his horse Don Quidam in the middle of the round because he suspected a problem.

The withdrawal of one of the team’s three horses meant that Australian trio McNab, Shane Rose and Chris Burton had no chance of repeating the performance in Japan, with the trio missing out on a team medal in Monday’s show jumping final due to a 200-point retirement.

McNab, 46, from Queensland, appeared to be doing well on Don Quidam, a horse he owns at his Surrey base in the UK that won him a silver medal in Tokyo.

But he took no risks when he felt a certain unease and stopped between the fences.

“Devastating news for equestrian sport,” Matthew Pavlich said on Channel 9.

“Unfortunately, Kevin had to get off his horse. His horse was lame and had a problem with a tendon.

“After speaking to the Australian team and coaches recently, it sounded like Kevin did his job right and jumped off the horse before any further injuries occurred.

“Unfortunately, this means that Kevin is out of the competition today and Australia can no longer win medals.”

It was a bitter disappointment for the team, especially after their first rider, Shane Rose, put in an impressive round on Sunday and only received 2.80 time penalties.

All of the Australians’ hopes in the individual competition now rested on Chris Burton from Toowoomba. The 42-year-old was in joint third place with Shadow Man after the dressage on Saturday.