Australia suffers Olympic medal defeat after ‘devastating’ horse incident in Paris

Australia’s dream of another medal in team eventing has been shattered after one of its horses went lame during the cross-country event at the spectacular Chateau de Versailles course.

Kevin McNab, one of the members of the silver medal-winning team from Tokyo three years ago, decided to withdraw his horse Don Quidam halfway through his round because he felt there was a problem.

With one of the team’s three horses forced to withdraw, there was no chance for the Australian trio of McNab, Shane Rose and Chris Burton to match their performance in Japan. The 200-point penalty for withdrawal meant the trio no longer have a chance of a team medal in Monday’s show jumping final.

The 46-year-old Queenslander McNab looked to be doing well on Don Quidam, a horse he owns at his British base in Surrey and with which he won silver in Tokyo.

But when he started to feel uncomfortable, he took no chances and stopped between the fences.

“Devastating news in equestrian sport,” said Matthew Pavlich on Channel 9.

‘Unfortunately Kevin had to jump off his horse. His horse became lame, had a problem with a tendon.

Australia suffered a medal defeat in Paris on Sunday

‘When I spoke to the Australian team and coaches recently it seemed like Kevin did well and got off the horse before any further injuries occurred.

‘Unfortunately this means Kevin will not be competing today and Australia is now out of contention for a medal.’

It was a huge disappointment for the team, especially as their lead rider on Sunday, Shane Rose, had put in an impressive lap and only given away 2.80 penalty points.

All Australian hopes now rested on Toowoomba’s Chris Burton in the individual event, with the 42-year-old tied for third place with Shadow Man after Saturday’s dressage section.