The 25th Olympic Games returned to Europe, to Barcelona (ESP), the capital of Catalonia in Spain. In fact they were Games of the Catalans, with many more Catalan flags than Spanish visible in the city.
With the exception of dressage and the endurance phases of Eventing, all equestrian competitions were held in the Royal Club de Polo, a fancy 21 hectare property near the big football stadium of FC Barcelona. For eventing dressage and the endurance part the 82 riders and horses moved to El Montanya Country Club, a one hour drive from Barcelona.
The 18 equestrian medals were again shared by seven countries, and once again Germany earned a majority of them. Ludger Beerbaum won individual Jumping gold – the German Dressage riders took all three individual medals and consequently also won team gold. The German eventers took silver and bronze. The Netherlands won team gold in Jumping, individual silver in Jumping and team silver in Dressage. The biggest surprise was Austria winning team silver in Jumping.
Max E. Ammann, World Cup Director and at the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) in charge of communication was foreseen to have this role also in Barcelona. After one of the biggest disasters in Olympic equestrian history, the farce of the qualification for the individual Jumping final, the two officials responsible met the international press without professional help. The qualification catastrophe resulted from a faulty qualification system and bad course design. The course designer, a Spanish without international experience and the technical delegate, an obscure South American, ignored the proposals for a formal press conference to attempt damage control, but faced the international press by answering questions in the middle of the press room. Disaster followed disaster.
Jumping - individual competition (04.+07.+09.08.1992)
1. Ludger Beerbaum (GER) – Classic Touch
2. Piet Raymakers (NED) – Ratina Z
3. Norman Dello Joio (USA) – Irish
Jumping - team competition (04.08.1992)
1. Netherlands
Piet Raymakers (NED) – Ratina
Bert Romp (NED) – Waldo
Jan Tops (NED) – Top Gun
Jos Lansink (NED) – Egano
2. Austria
Boris Boor (AUT) – Love Me Tender
Jörg Münzner (AUT) – Graf Grande
Hugo Simon (AUT) – Apricot D
Thomas Frühmann (AUT) – Genius
3. France
Hervé Godignon (FRA) – Quidam de Revel
Hubert Bourdy (FRA) – Razzia du Poncel
Michel Robert (FRA) – Nonix
Eric Navet (FRA) – Quito de Baussy
Dressage – individual competition (02.-03+05.08.1992)
1. Nicole Uphoff (GER) – Rembrandt
2. Isabell Werth (GER) – Gigolo
3. Klaus Balkenhol (GER) – Goldstern
Dressage – team competition (02.-03.08.1992)
1. Germany
Nicole Uphoff (GER) – Rembrandt
Monica Theodorescu (GER) – Grunox
Isabell Werth (GER) – Gigolo
Klaus Balkenhol (GER) – Goldstern
2. Netherlands
Anky van Grunsven (NED) – Olympic Bonfire
Annemarie Sanders (NED) – Olympic Montreux
Tineke Bartels (NED) – Olympic Courage
Ellen Bontje (NED) – Olympic Larius
3. United States of America
Charlotte Bredahl (USA) – Monsieur
Michael Poulin (USA) – Graf George
Robert Dover (USA) – Lectron
Carol Lavell (USA) – Gifted
Eventing – individual competition (27.07.1992-30.07.1992)
1. Matthew Ryan (AUS) – Kibah Tic Toc
2. Herbert Blöcker (GER) – Feine Dame
3. Blyth Tait (NZL) – Messiah
Eventing – team competition (27.07.1992-30.07.1992)
1. Australia
David Green (AUS) – Duncan
Gillian Rolton (AUS) – Peppermint Grove
Andrew Hoy (AUS) – Kiwi
Matthew Ryan (AUS) – Kibah Tic Toc
2. New Zealand
Andrew Nicholson (NZL) – Spinning Rhombus
Vicky Latta (NZL) – Chief
Blyth Tait (NZL) – Messiah
Mark Todd (NZL) – Welton Greylag
3. Germany
Matthias Baumann (GER) – Alabaster
Cord Mysegaes (GER) – Ricardo
Ralf Ehrenbrink (GER) – Kildare
Herbert Blöcker (GER) – Feine Dame
