Gold next time?

Britain's three-day eventers take the plaudits

The BBC's Lee McKenzie goes behind the scenes in the Great Britain equestrian camp as the team wins Olympic silver in the three-day event competition.

The Great Britain three-day event team can take great heart from winning the Olympic silver medal - even though there was some disappointment among the team members that they had not managed to snatch gold from Australia in the show-jumping arena.

Following the below-par performances by Britain at the two previous Olympic Games, the squad flew to Sydney determined to set the record straight.

Team manager Matt Straker instilled a thorough sense of professionalism in the squad and the preparation paid dividends with their first three-day event Olympic medal since 1988.

Straker now expects them to go from strength to strength: "Success breeds success. We've had success here, and now we're going to have more success."

Optimism

At the start of the final phase, there was still considerable optimism in the British camp that they could gain enough ground in the show-jumping to swap places with Australia at the top of the table.

Success breeds success. We've had success here, and now we're going to have more success.

  Matt Straker

However, faced with a tricky 13-fence course, they had several poles down and were more or less matched by their big rivals in the tense final hour of competition.

People may point to the misfortune of team member Ian Stark, who ended up in the lake on Jaybee during Monday's cross-country phase, as the moment when the competition was decided.

That was undoubtedly a significant development, but it would be unfair to point the finger at the talented Scotsman.

The Aussies were just in front all the way and thoroughly deserved their gold medal - an unprecedented third at successive Olympics.

Ian Stark's cross-country dip cost his team

Stark's colleague Pippa Funnell, the current European Champion, hit the nail on the head when asked why the Australians had held on to win. "They didn't knock enough fences down," she laughed.

The final word goes to Stark himself, as he continues to reflect on his watery exit on the cross country course.

A great ambassador for the sport, and taking part in his last team competition at the age of 46, he observed wryly: "I would like to thank all my team-mates for winning me the silver medal."

Stark is now set to begin all over again, this time on his second horse (Arakai), in the individual three-day event - starting on Wednesday.