Last night I watched the Stadium Jumping as our Olympic team win Gold!  This is especially wonderful because the star rider, Beezie Madden, is from Central NY, so we take great pride.  My dad still tells everyone how his daughter beat her once...not really.  She had brought some green horses to the Morresville College show for schooling.  She actually entered with disqualifying gear on her mount, so I beat her by default....no way, in this lifetime do I ever beat Beezie Madden. 

So here's the thing.  I knew we (USA) had won the gold.  But what I was more interested in when I watched was seeing Canada.  Ian Millar has been my favorite rider for years...ever since the years of Big Ben.  They were two great gentlemen to watch in action.  But Millar has never won an Olympic medal in all the years he has been competing there.  Last night as he, the anchor rider, went clean, the grin and sheer excitement on the sixty one year old face was wonderful.  He grinned, fist pumped, pat his horse...it was a joyous moment as he moved them into gold position. 

We of course tied and took both the US and Canada into a Jump off.  They were down a rider and their second rider dragged a rail.  Our first three rode clean, so Beezie never even had to ride in the Jump Off.  We had won.  I knew that was the outcome, but I was still pulling for Millar to win gold. 

I will say though that my feelings swayed back to my patriotic self as the USET riders took the podium.  They stood proud with their gold medals hung from their necks with their incredible horses standing behind them.  We won the gold in Athens four years ago, however not until after the games were concluded.  When our riders left Greece they they brought home the silver medal but were later awarded gold because of a drug test failure by the gold medalist.  So our team had never gotten to experience that amazing moment of standing on the podium as OUR national anthem played.  Yesterday they finally got what we theirs.  I watched as Kraut fought back her emotion and Beezie laughed as she saw her wipe a tear from her eye...she then did the same....I cried too. 

Very proud of our riders, their horses and of course the Central NY native....the top woman equestrian rider in the world.