Chris Burton has claimed an unexpected silver medal in the individual events for Australia at the Chateau de Versailles, riding a borrowed British horse he has ridden for just five months.
The 42-year-old Queenslander had abandoned his show jumping specialty to try eventing this year, and his switch paid off as he expressed disbelief at taking new partner Shadow Man to second place.
Toowoomba’s Burton, now based in the UK, was third overnight after dressage and cross country but moved up to silver after Monday morning’s jumping qualifying round when he had a faultless round just outside the time limit.
Then, on a scorchingly hot afternoon and against the majestic backdrop of the castle, the young combination cleared the 12 hurdles in the final.
This put Burton within sight of Australia’s first singles event win since Matt Ryan on Kibah Tic Toc at Barcelona 1992 as he knew the big 41-year-old German Jung, on Chipmunk FRH, was under maximum pressure.
“I’m not going to lie. For a second there I thought we had him in our sights,” Burton smiled, greeting four-time champion Jung, who became the first man to win three gold medals in individual all-around competition.
“But I just did a cheeky interview on German TV. I said, ‘Mickey, I’ve hated you for so long, but you’re the greatest of all time, mate.’ It’s unbelievable. So there’s no shame in coming second to that guy.
“Watching them go around is a funny thing. The Germans call it schadenfreude, it’s a lovely term. You want to watch, but then you want to enjoy the moment, and it’s a bit heartbreaking… I honestly can’t believe it.”
Christopher Burton (left) was denied a fairytale gold medal at the Olympics
The Australian, who was not the favourite, thought he had done enough to win gold in the all-around competition.
But Michael Jung denied him victory and the German won his fourth Olympic gold.
Jung won with 21.80 penalty points, 0.60 more than Burton. Laura Collett, who had earlier led Great Britain to the team title, finished third with 23.10.
Remarkably, Burton and Shadow Man only had their first competition in March, after owner and jockey Ben Hobday, believing he had no chance of making the Olympics amid the huge competition in the UK, loaned the horse to his friend for six months in a rare display of “Ashes” equestrian cooperation.
Burton, who had won team bronze in Rio eight years earlier, had switched to show jumping but decided to try eventing once more with the gift horse that Hobday convinced him was “the best in the world”.
“I took a little break from competition so it’s really nice to come back and be able to do this. Right now, I can’t help but think that I’m a lucky man,” said the popular figure known to his teammates as ‘Burto’.
The loan idea was first mooted in January, when Burton admitted his wife Bek was unhappy about returning to the treacherous world of eventing.
“Please note that my wife was very angry with me for putting her through all this. I joke about it, but she’s been amazing. She made it all possible,” explained Burton, who believed that Bek had put together the global and dizzying programme that allowed her to qualify.
As for Shadow Man, “He’s an incredible horse to ride. Isn’t he a machine? Isn’t he a delight? He just jumps off the ground, has reach and care and is a pleasure,” Burton smiled.
“I saw it years ago. I always knew it was that good. We tried to buy it twice and Ben was too in love with it to sell it, and I can understand that.
“I can’t believe I had this opportunity. I can’t believe how much fun we had in Paris.
“I’m very happy. Everything has been going great for us this week. We’ll sleep well tonight.”