Individual, Men

The event was only for commissioned officers on active duty. Each nation was allowed a maximum of four competitors. Not strictly a true “3-Day Event” as we now know it, the event was termed the “Military Riding Competition” in 1912. In addition, it took place over four days, not three. Section scores were calculated by using the percentage of possible scores in each section multipled by 10. The maximum by sections were the following: Section 1 - long-distance ride of 55 km., maximum 10 points; Section 2 - 5 km. cross-country ride with natural obstacles of fences, ditches, and streams, held as a portion of the long-distance ride, maximum 130 points, scaled down to 10 points; Section 3 - 3,500 metre steeplechase, maximum 100 points, scaled down to 10 points; Section 4 - Jumping competition, maximum 150 points, scaled down to 10 points; and Section 5 - Dressage, maximum 770 points, scaled down to 10 points. As an example, in dressage (section 5), Nordlander scored 590 in the dressage or .766 of maximum, which gave him a score of 7.66 for the dressage.

The event opened with the 55 km. ride on a day that was described as oppressively hot. Still, 26 of the 27 riders finished the course, with only one (Albert Seigner [FRA]) outside the time limit of four hours. In the cross-country portion of the ride, held concurrently, three riders rode the wrong way and were disqualified, but 13 posted perfect scores of 130. Thus after two sections, 13 riders were tied for first place. Two days later, 22 riders started the steeplechase section, but it did little to separate the logjam at the top. Seventeen of the 22 posted perfect scores of 100 in this section, and 9 riders remained tied for first with total scores of 30 after this section.

The jumping (section four) was won by Ernst Casparsson (SWE) who scored 145 of 150 points. Bernard Meyer (FRA) and Friedrich von Rochow (GER) each scored 143 to move into a tie for first place with totals of 39.53, with only the dressage remaining. Only 15 riders started the dressage, which was won by Jean Cariou (FRA), who scored 594.2 points (of 770 possible) to move into 3rd place overall. The second best dressage score was posted by Axel Nordlander of Sweden, who had been in 7th place going into the last section. Nordlander scored 590 points in the dressage, and his adjusted score of 7.66 enabled him to move into first place overall. Nordlander won, in addition to his gold medal, the German Emperor’s Challenge Prize.