Equestrian Eventing at the 2016 Summer Olympics

The equestrian events at the 2016 Summer Olympics were held, generally in front of sparse crowds, at Rio’s National Equestrian Center, which formed part of the Parque Olímpico de Deodoro. The only change in regulations since 2012 concerned the size of teams in dressage and eventing. Prior to the Rio Games dressage teams comprised of three rider/horse combinations while eventing had five. This was now evened out so that both disciplines had teams of four.

Team and individual eventing competitions were held in Rio de Janeiro, and they were conducted simultaneously. The cross-country phase was again conducted in the short format that had been introduced at the 2004 Olympics with the abolition of the steeplechase and “roads and tracks” phases. German Michael Jung defended his individual gold medal and France took the team title. Jung was the third eventer to defend an individual gold medal, after Charles Pahud de Mortanges in 1928-32 and Mark Todd in 1984-88.