ACOG - News - IBM

(24 July 1996; Day 05)

Australian Rookie Competes in Equestrian Three Day Event with Fractured Leg

The three day event is a test of horse and rider including dressage, endurance and stadium jumping. Watching the riders maneuver their horses through a dressage test, through nearly 1-1/2 hours of roads and tracks, steeplechase and cross country jumping and a stadium jumping course over a three-day period shows that the task is not easy on its own. But Australian Wendy SCHAEFFER is competing in her first Olympic Games with a fractured right leg.

SCHAEFFER suffered the fracture at a horse trials in mid-May, just a few weeks after she and Sunburst, a small (15.2 hands) thoroughbred that is tough, fast and an outstanding jumper, had been named to the Australian Olympic team for the three day event. She was competing in a horse trials in Southeastern Australia with a less-experienced horse when "I underestimated an obstacle and kind of forgot that I wasn't riding Sunburst," SCHAEFFER explained. Her leg was trapped between a cross country fence and her mount. The horse was fine, but SCHAEFFER's Olympic hopes were suddenly in doubt.

Following the accident, SCHAEFFER had surgery to place plates and pins in her leg to speed the healing. "If they had put me in a traditional plaster cast, I wouldn't be here," said SCHAEFFER, "and I just couldn't miss the Olympics." The majority of the time that SCHAEFFER is not on a horse, she can be seen walking around with an electromagnetic stimulation pack strapped to her leg in order to speed the healing. The process seems to have worked, as SCHAEFFER and Sunburst turned in a clear round on endurance day, with just 11.60 time penalties.

"I'm glad that I got to go first," said SCHAEFFER. "I was able to go out and compete with no pressure from the team, as there would have been if I had known that I had to go clean or it would have hurt the team. It was my first four-star event, but I have had some experience at the World Championships, and I have a lot of confidence in Sunburst."

The Aussies are in position to successfully defend their team gold medal in the three day event with only the jumping phase remaining. SCHAEFFER's two-day score of 61.0 penalties has contributed to Australia's two-day total of 183.6, while the United States is well back in second place with 244.6.

This is an official publication of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publications Department. Written by Amy H. Symons.


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More tickets were sold to the competitions of the 1996 Games than to any other Olympic Games or sports event in history. The 8.6 million ticket sales figures topped sales to the Los Angeles and Barcelona Games combined.