Laura COLLETT (GBR) & LONDON 52 compete in the cross country phase of the eventing competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games – Versailles, Paris, France 28 July 2024 – photo Jon Stroud Media



What a setting for a memorable event in the 2024 Paris Olympics: Day Two in the equestrian competition along a cross-country course laid out in Louis XIV’s Versailles.

Moroccan rider Slaoui riding Cash in Hand. AP Photo

Versailles, after all, began as a hunting lodge. The Atlantic

The two AP photos suggest that some of that forest where nobles once hunted survives today. When a baby deer, confused, jumped into the Grand Canal during the competition, eight or ten manly French firefighters jumped in to save her.

Versailles’ beauty may have been lost on this rider, from Ecuador.

But there were some beautiful jumps. Video by maetam2803

@mae.tam2803

Paris 2024 – Cross Country šŸ“ #paris2024 #paris2024olympics #olympics #horsesoftiktok #eventing #jeuxolympiqueparis2024 #crosscountry

ā™¬ [Vivaldi] Four Seasons – Winter – Excerpt from the first movement(1531685) – Icy Light

The Gold Medalist team: Germany’s Michael Jung and his whimsically named gelding, Chipmunk. This was Jung’s third gold medal. Chipmunk seemed unfazed, with a deceptively easy gait that belied how much ground he was covering on the cross-country course. They were amazing.


So this was an appropriate place for this competition. There were plenty of les gloires to go around.