Equestrian at the 1932 Summer Olympics – Individual eventing

Individual eventing
at the Games of the X Olympiad
Individual eventing; at the Games of the X Olympiad
Venue	Riviera Country Club; Westchester; Olympic Stadium
Date	10–13 August 1932
Competitors	14 from 6 nations
Winning total	1813.333 points
Medalists
	← 1928 1936 →

The individual eventing in equestrian at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles was held at the Riviera Country Club (dressage), a specially built course in Westchester (cross-country), and the Olympic Stadium (jumping) from 10 to 13 August.^[1] NOCs were limited to three horse and rider pairs.^[2]^[3]

Charles Pahud de Mortanges and Marcroix, the defending gold medalists, became the first equestrian pair to repeat as champions.^[4] They did so despite not winning any of the three stages.^[5]

Competition format

The team and individual eventing competitions used the same scores. Eventing consisted of a dressage test, a cross-country test, and a jumping test.^[1] The total maximum score was 2000 points, with 400 available in dressage, 1300 in cross-country, and 300 in jumping.^[6] In the dressage portion, three juries gave scores out of 400; the average of the three was the score for the segment. In the cross-country section, penalties were issued for faults and for going over the time limit (with small bonuses available for finishing early); the total penalties minus bonuses were subtracted from 1300 to give the score for the round. Penalties were also given for faults and slow performances in jumping, with the total penalties subtracted from 300 for that round. The three segment scores were summed to give a final score.

Schedule

Date	Round
Wednesday, 10 August 1932 Thursday, 11 August 1932	Dressage
Friday, 12 August 1932	Cross-country
Saturday, 13 August 1932	Jumping

Results

Standings after dressage

Chamberlin won the first portion of the eventing competition, taking a lead slightly over 7 points against his countryman Argo.^[7]

Rank	Rider	Horse	Nation	Dressage
1	Harry Chamberlin	Pleasant Smiles	United States	340.333
2	Edwin Argo	Honolulu Tomboy	United States	333.000
3	Charles Pahud de Mortanges	Marcroix	Netherlands	311.833
4	Clarence von Rosen Jr.	Sunnyside Maid	Sweden	310.667
5	Arne Francke	Fridolin	Sweden	303.333
6	Earl Foster Thomson	Jenny Camp	United States	300.000
7	Ernst Hallberg	Marokan	Sweden	290.333
8	Aernout van Lennep	Henk	Netherlands	277.500
9	Karel Schummelketel	Duiveltje	Netherlands	267.500
10	Morishige Yamamoto	Kingo	Japan	257.333
11	Tara Naro	Sonshin	Japan	242.000
12	Shunzo Kido	Kyu Gun	Japan	212.833
13	José Pérez Allende	El Torero	Mexico	171.167
14	Armando Barriguete	Monza	Mexico	119.167

Standings after cross country

With 1300 points available, the cross country competition was by far the largest contributor to the eventing scores. The dressage leaders did not fare well in the cross country portion, with Chamberlin finishing fifth in the segment with 192.5 penalties and Argo finishing eighth with 392.5 penalties. Thomson, sixth after dressage, vaulted to the lead with a nearly clean round--incurring 35 time penalties in the open country but earning 6 bonus time points in the steeplechase. De Mortanges and von Rosen, second and third in the round with 58.0 and 58.5 penalties, moved into second and third place overall. The gap between von Rosen and Chamberlin--now in fourth place--was over 100 points, a very difficult distance to close with only the jumping portion remaining; barring disaster for one of the three, the medalists had largely been decided at this point and were competing with each other for final placement. Barriguete did not start the cross country portion; four others did not finish it.^[8]

Rank	Rider	Horse	Nation	Dressage	Cross Country	Total
1	Earl Foster Thomson	Jenny Camp	United States	300.000	1271.000	1571.000
2	Charles Pahud de Mortanges	Marcroix	Netherlands	311.833	1242.000	1553.833
3	Clarence von Rosen Jr.	Sunnyside Maid	Sweden	310.667	1241.500	1552.167
4	Harry Chamberlin	Pleasant Smiles	United States	340.333	1107.500	1447.833
5	Ernst Hallberg	Marokan	Sweden	290.333	1129.000	1419.333
6	Karel Schummelketel	Duiveltje	Netherlands	267.500	1105.000	1372.500
7	Morishige Yamamoto	Kingo	Japan	257.333	1092.500	1349.833
8	Edwin Argo	Honolulu Tomboy	United States	333.000	907.500	1240.500
9	Aernout van Lennep	Henk	Netherlands	277.500	797.500	1075.000
5	Arne Francke	Fridolin	Sweden	303.333	Eliminated
11	Tara Naro	Sonshin	Japan	242.000	Eliminated
12	Shunzo Kido	Kyu Gun	Japan	212.833	Eliminated
13	José Pérez Allende	El Torero	Mexico	171.167	Eliminated
14	Armando Barriguete	Monza	Mexico	119.167	Did not start

Final results after jumping

Argo had a clean round, with no faults and only 0.75 time penalties, to make up significant ground on the field; nobody else had fewer than 40 penalties in the round. However, the three leaders after the cross country segment did well enough to each medal. Thomson, who had the lead, fared worst, incurring 60 penalties. This allowed de Mortanges, with only 40 penalties in the round, to overtake him and successfully repeat the Olympic championship. Von Rosen, with 40 jumping penalties as well, would also have passed Thomson if not for von Rosen's 2.75 time penalties--just enough to keep the Swede in the third position and give the American the silver medal.^[9]

Rank	Rider	Horse	Nation	Dressage	Cross-country	Jumping	Total
	Charles Pahud de Mortanges	Marcroix	Netherlands	311.833	1242.000	260.000	1813.833
	Earl Foster Thomson	Jenny Camp	United States	300.000	1271.000	240.000	1811.000
	Clarence von Rosen Jr.	Sunnyside Maid	Sweden	310.667	1241.500	257.250	1809.417
4	Harry Chamberlin	Pleasant Smiles	United States	340.333	1107.500	240.000	1687.833
5	Ernst Hallberg	Marokan	Sweden	290.333	1129.000	260.000	1679.333
6	Karel Schummelketel	Duiveltje	Netherlands	267.500	1105.000	242.000	1614.500
7	Morishige Yamamoto	Kingo	Japan	257.333	1092.500	259.750	1609.583
8	Edwin Argo	Honolulu Tomboy	United States	333.000	907.500	299.250	1539.250^[10]
9	Aernout van Lennep	Henk	Netherlands	277.500	797.500	185.750	1260.750

References

^ ^a ^b Official Olympic Report Archived 2 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine, la84.org. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
^ Official Report, p. 715
^ Official Report, p. 712
^ Official Report, pp. 711–12
^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Equestrianism at the 1932 Los Angeles Summer Games: Men's Three-Day Event, Individual". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
^ Men's Three-Day Event, Individual
^ Official Report, p. 720.
^ Official Report, p. 721.
^ Official Report, p. 721.
^ Official Report, p. 722, gives Argo's final score at 1539.250 even though his component scores would result in a total of 1539.750.