Equestrian
Olympics 2024: Anush Agarwalla’s historic dressage moment
As the lone rider at Paris, Anush Agarwalla was placed 9th in his group in Dressage event of Equestrian.
At the pristine Château de Versailles, Anush Agarwalla made history and carved a niche for himself at the Olympic Games in Paris on Wednesday.
When Agarwalla dismounted his horse after the individual qualification round, he became the first Indian to complete a routine in the dressage event at the Summer Olympic Games.
Placed in Group E, Agarwalla was the fourth rider to start his routine and when he completed it, he was awarded a total of 66.444 by the judges.
Sir Caramello Old, Anush Agarwalla Equestrian Dressage partner, is a 17-year-old horse 😍😍😍
— Nishtha Prasad (@nishtha_prasad) July 31, 2024
Unfortunately, the top 2 qualify in each group of this event.#equestrian pic.twitter.com/hYdUYPdrbR
When all the riders in his group of ten had completed their respective routines, Agarwalla was placed in 9th position.
Given that just the top 2 athletes from each group progressed to the Individual Final (Grand Prix Freestyle), Agarwalla was unable to move ahead.
But despite the outcome, his mere participation was a momentous occasion for the sport in the country.
His partner on this Parisian adventure was a 17-year-old horse, Sir Caramello Old.
Sir Caramello and I are ready to live the Olympic dream tomorrow!! 🤎
— Anush Agarwalla (@AnushAgarwalla) July 30, 2024
Caramello felt great today in training and the excitement couldn’t be any bigger to enter the iconic arena tomorrow!! 🤩
Best wishes to all the athletes competing in the event starting today💪🏻🍀 pic.twitter.com/itVoiY5R7g
In the dressage event, the rider and the horse execute a set of movements within the confines of an area cordoned off by railings. Through the course of the routine, the rider and the horse must perform within the said area.
Agarwalla is the only rider at the Paris Olympics.
India has had participants in equestrian previously. Fouaad Mirza donned Indian colours in equestrian at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Before that, India had riders at the Sydney 2000 (Imtiaz Anees), Atlanta 1996 (Indrajit Lamba), and Moscow 1980 (Jitendrajit Singh Ahluwalia, Hussain Singh, Mohammed Khan and Darya Singh).