The Star on the Drama: "Must Put It Behind Me"

What happened, Peder Fredricson doesn't know, but he was on his way to his worst nightmare. Catch Me Not stopped short in front of the wall with graffiti-painted faces. The street art was about to put a spoke in the wheel for a Swedish final spot and the fight for Olympic Games medals. You feel a bit shaken. Now it's just a matter of trying to put this behind him, says Fredricson.

Published: 01 August 2024

The beauty in the wretched singing:

The 17 faults in the qualifying round were not enough to cost Sweden a place outside the ten nations that will ride in Friday's final.

With Henrik von Eckermann and Rolf-Göran Bengtsson starting with dazzling, faultless rides on King Edward and Zuccero, the show jumping team landed in eighth place.

And in the final, the results from the qualifying round do not count.

"Very relieved"

The reigning Olympic team champions are starting from scratch and Peder Fredricson is infinitely grateful for that.

I'm very relieved. Result-wise, we can put this behind us. I'll just make sure I put what happened behind me, he says.

How do you do that?

Part of the sport is being able to put things like this behind you and come back. It's part of the challenge. I hope I have the routine to do it.

Everyone knows it's not machines we're sitting on. You can't just shift gears and it works. You can't start brooding on this, but accept, process, get down to business, chew on it, and then move on.

The 18-year-old gelding's sudden refusal came as a total surprise to the experienced rider.

Never happened before

You'll have to ask him, I don't know why. It's never happened before. Either he didn't realize he was supposed to jump the wall or there was something about it he didn't like, says Fredricson.

And continues:

At first, I was overwhelmed. What happened? Then it's about not letting it happen again and making sure I get to the finish without too many faults.

Despite the mishap, Fredricson doesn't doubt the form and capacity of Catch Me Not for a second.

If this had happened and the horse hadn't felt good, I would have been extremely worried. He feels better than ever and that's why my gut feeling is good.

He himself won't be tweaking anything when it comes down to the final.

I think that if you're going to ride an Olympic Games final well, you have to be able to ride the horse in the way that the horse jumps absolutely best, not to try to prevent something.