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At the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, OIWA Yoshiaki (1999 graduate of the School of Commerce), TOMOTO Kazuma (2006 graduate of the School of Commerce), and KITAJIMA Ryuzo (2008 graduate of the School of Political Science and Economics) competed in the equestrian team eventing and won medals, marking Japan’s first Olympic equestrian medal in 92 years. This is the second time in history that Japan has won a medal in the equestrian competitions at the Olympics. Also, this is the first time Japan scored a medal in an equestrian team eventing.
Equestrian team eventing consists of competitions in three categories: dressage, cross country, and jumping. Scoring is based on a point deduction method, and the team with the lowest number of points is ranked highest. Each team consists of three players and the teams compete for the total score of each event.
The dressage and the cross country were held on July 27 and 28, local time, respectively. At the end of the second day of cross country, Japan was in third place, which was good enough for a medal. Japan was preparing for the final event, jumping, to win a medal.
KITAJIMA showed his stunning jump at the cross country on the second day
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However, as a result of the horse inspection (an inspection to determine if a horse is fit to compete) held on the morning of July 29, local time, KITAJIMA's horse failed to pass the inspection, and thus TANAKA Toshiyuki competed in place of KITAJIMA. The national team got 20 penalty points because of the change of player and horse. They dropped two places from their provisional third place on the previous day and competed in the final event, jumping, from fifth place.
And then came the final event, jumping. TANAKA, who replaced KITAJIMA, was the first to appear and performed very well. Following him, TOMOTO jumped over all obstacles with a steady jump without making any mistakes and rode impressively without any penalty points.
TOMOTO showed his impressive, mistake-free ride in the final event, Jumping
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OIWA, who has participated in equestrian events at five consecutive Olympics, was the last to compete. Although he got a few penalty points due to exceeding the designated time, he did not make any mistakes on obstacles and finished the competition with a splendid ride.
OIWA was the third player to appear. OIWA also finished the race with his mistake-free jump
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As a result, Japan won the bronze medal with a total of 115.8 penalty points in the three events. The riders and horses ran as one and suppressed mistakes, which led to their medal win. As the average age of the members is 41 years old, they named their team “Shoro (Over the Hill) Japan,” which became a topic of conversation in the country. This team achieved a historical accomplishment.
OIWA has participated in five consecutive Olympics. He did a fist pump at the end of the competition
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