A silver and bronze for Lamaze at Pan Am Games

The Canadian Show Jumping Team claimed the silver medal at the 2007 Pan American Games. From left to right are: Mac Cone, Jill Henselwood, Eric Lamaze and Ian Millar. Photo by Cealy Tetley

Schomberg's Eric Lamaze has been having a pretty good time in Rio de Janeiro, and he has the medals to prove it.

The show-jumping ace took the bronze medal in the individual competition, Sunday at the Pan-American Games, two days after the Canadian Show Jumping Team, of which both Lamaze and King City's Mac Cone are members, took the silver in the team event.

And adding to the good news, Canadian Jill Henselwood from Oxford Mills (near Ottawa) took the individual gold, marking the first time in 24 years that a woman has claimed the honour.

Following the team final Friday, which also formed the second and third phases of the individual competition, Canada's show jumping athletes were in enviable positions with Henselwood in second, Ian Millar of Perth, in third, and Lamaze in sixth from an original starting field of 47 competitors.

With its silver medal, Canada achieved its goal of qualifying a team for the 2008 Olympic Games, the equestrian portion of which will take place in Hong Kong due to equine health concerns in mainland China. Brazil also earned its ticket, as did fourth-placed Mexico as the United States had already qualified with a silver medal at last year's World Equestrian Games.

"We really needed to make sure we send a team to the Olympics, for the future of our sport," said Henselwood.

Sunday saw only 29 horse-rider combinations attempt the two-round individual final. Course designer Guilherme Jorge of Brazil built a slightly shorter and less technically difficult first round track than he had for Friday's team final with 12 numbered obstacles and 15 jumping efforts. Coming into the opening round of the individual final in 18th position, Cone, 54, and Melinda, a 13-yearold Dutch Warmblood mare owned by Southern Ways, had a rail down at the final fence to improve on their position and move into 13th.

The next Canadian into the ring was Lamaze, 39, sitting in sixth place with less than one rail separating him from the leader, Pedro Veniss of Brazil. Hickstead, an 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood stallion owned by Torrey Pines and Ashland Stables Inc., easily cleared the course to move Lamaze into fourth with 6.43 penalties, and within reach of the podium.

Eight-time Olympian Millar, 60, then went clear with Susan Grange's Dutchbred gelding, In Style, adding nothing to his 4.29 penalties and putting the pressure on the two riders who followed. Henselwood needed a fault-free round to stay in medal contention and Special Ed, a 13-year-old Oldenburg gelding owned by Juniper Farms, didn't let her down.

When the leader, Brazil's Veniss riding Un Blancs de Blanc, brought down the first element of the triple combination at fence 11, Henselwood returned to the top of the leader board with her score of four, the position she had held following the first day of competition. Millar shifted into second position, with Olympic champion and hometown favourite Rodrigo Pessoa of Brazil in third with 5.74 riding the American-owned Rufus.

The designer Jorge took things up a notch with his course for the second round, setting a shorter but bigger track of just 10 fences and 12 jumping efforts. The highest fence was the final one, a 1.62-metre vertical, and the tight time allowed also played a factor with only five horses completing the course within the 61- second time limit.

Cone and Melinda had four rails and a time penalty. Their final score of 45.31 would leave them in 14th position overall.

Veniss, riding fifth to last, gave the top four some breathing room by bringing down the last jump. Lamaze made no such mistake; Hickstead jumped as aggressively as he had in the first round, and finished within the time allowed for a double clear round. Pessoa followed Lamaze into the ring and also posted his second clear round of the day.

The pressure was on the leaders, and when Millar had an unfortunate rail at fence five, it moved Lamaze into bronze medal position and Pessoa into silver.

"I would love to have seen Ian on the podium today," said Lamaze of Canada's most decorated show jumping athlete after the medal ceremony. "Ian has done great things in the sport."

In a dramatic finish, Henselwood and Special Ed also enjoyed their second clear round of the day, giving Henselwood her first Individual Pan Am Medal, and a Gold one at that!

"I wasn't so sure it was real! It was a home crowd, and it was very quiet out there after my round," smiled Henselwood, 41, who also competed at the Pan Am Games in 1995 and 1999. "It was so important that Special Ed win a major title. I'm so glad for him. I thought the competition was as much a world-class competition as I've ever done."

The final of the team competition Friday didn't seem to be a major surprise for Canadian officials at the games.

"We had four super riders, and we came in with guarded optimism, knowing that the Brazilians would be tough to beat," said Canadian Show Jumping Team Chef d'Equipe Terrance Millar following the medal ceremony.

The second and final day of team show jumping competition began at 9 a.m. Friday at the National Equestrian Centre, north of the Pan American Village. Having finished Thursday's speed phase in first position, Canada had the luxury of being the last of 10 teams to compete in the first of two rounds comprising the Nations' Cup team final.

First in for Canada was Cone and Melinda. A total of 12 jumping faults over Jorge's taxing course, featuring obstacles set at a height of 1.5 metres would ultimately see Cone's score dropped from the team tally where only the best three scores are counted.

Henselwood and Special Ed, the individual leaders following Thursday's opening competition, added no points to their perfect score of zero by jumping clear over the 13 numbered obstacles featuring 16 jumping efforts.

Lamaze also repeated his performance from the first day, incurring four jumping faults in the first round on Hickstead.

Brazil had already posted three clear rounds to guarantee the lead by the time the fourth and final Canadian, Millar, set out with In Style. They had a confident clear round that kept Millar second in the individual standings behind Henselwood.

At the end of the first round, Canada had dropped into second place with a score of 6.72, just 1.05 points behind Brazil with 5.67 but with a comfortable lead over the third-placed United States with 19.20. After its third place finish on day one, Mexico lost considerable ground to slip to fourth position with 25.89.

The order of go changed in the second round to reflect the change in team standings, and the teams from Ecuador and Chile had been eliminated. Due to several retirements and eliminations, the starting list for the second round had shrunk from 47 horses to 39.

Cone improved on his first round performance with eight faults on Melinda, but Canada needed to be able to discard that score in order to secure the gold medal. Henselwood was not able to duplicate her perfect ride from the morning, taking a single rail with Special Ed and dropping to second position individually with a score of four points behind Brazil's Veniss with 2.84.

Lamaze and Hickstead returned to post a clear round for Canada. Riding in the anchor position, Millar and In Style looked set to post a double clear round when In Style drifted left at fence nine and took down the front rail.

Adding just one rail from final rider Pessoa and Rufus to its score, Brazil claimed the gold medal before a home crowd with a score of 9.57. Canada claimed the silver with 14.72 while the United States, finishing with only three horses after Todd Minikus fell off Pavarotti at the water jump in the first round, took bronze with 27.20.