Show History - 2000s

2000:

Olympia 2000 was certainly one of the noisiest shows of recent years with audience participation at an all time high, as heroes were cheered, feet were stamped and spectators young and old joined in to the popular anthem of the year, ‘Bob the Builder’.

It was the year that Lorenzo - ‘The Flying Frenchman’, returned to the famous Great Hall. The year that the Kings Troop, ‘Jumped the Gun’, the Shetlands took the arena by storm and every time the Dog Agility started they were greeted with the chant…Who Let the Dogs Out?

An opening day parade toasted the success of Britain’s medal winning equestrians from the Olympics and the Para-Olympics in Sydney. Sticking with the Olympic theme, the contestants for the ‘Ride and Drive’ were the Silver Medal winning eventing team of Pippa Funnell, Ian Stark, Leslie Law and Jeanette Brakewell and the Gold and Bronze Medal winning pentathletes Stephanie Cook and Kate Allenby.
One of the most emotional wins of the week was provided by seventeen-year-old Robert Whitaker, when he won the Millennium challenge to become Olympia’s youngest ever, international class winner.

Keeping the youngsters on their toes, fifty seven year old Liz Edgar who made a return to Olympia after an absence of 10 years, won the Knock-Out competition. But the Brits were not to have it all their own way German rider Rene Tebbel riding Meurer’s Le Patron won the World Cup Qualifier and fellow countryman Lars Neiberg and Loro Piana Espirt FRH picked up the £16,000 first prize in the Grand Prix.

Audiences were treated to theatrical spectacular with a new Finale inspired by Camelot and the Knights of the Round Table and as the curtain went down on the final night the atmosphere was thick with excitement. Olympia had once again worked its magic…with a little help from Merlin.

2001:

Olympia’s 30th anniversary show proved to be a vintage edition with the international riders, amongst the best in the world, providing class action and tense jump offs.

13 of the top 20 riders in the world entered the show. Robert Smith won not one but two of the classes on the opening day for the second year in succession and the audience for the afternoon performance saw HRH The Duke of Edinburgh being presented with a richly deserved Lifetime Achievement Award by the FEI.

Peter Charles (IRL) whose dedication and professionalism is legendary proved, once again, just how good he is. On Friday night he won the Accenture Puissance in a major tussle with the great John Whitaker, jumping a massive 7′3″ just 1″ off equaling the Olympia record of 7′4″. If that wasn’t enough, on Saturday afternoon, he brought out another of his string, Carnavelly, to win the Ericsson World Cup Qualifier in a classic jump-off.

On Sunday the Grand Prix provided an excellent last day spectacular, and whilst the new “Double Your Money” class had a few teething problems, it was generally welcomed by the riders.

Displays

The horseless horsemen Jez Avery with his mountain bike and the Nassif brothers went down a storm with the packed houses. The Nassif brothers cleared 5′4″ apiece! Meanwhile Jez entertained the crowds outside waiting to come in and those in the arena itself with his skill at jumping over showjumps.

The Cossacks proved a great hit with the public although at times some concern was expressed about just how close to the edge they where.

The Westphalian Stallions from Germany, provided the elegant and educational element of the displays in 2001 and the accuracy of their display along with the “Ah!” value of the Coldbloods added to the balance of the show.

The Dog Agility and Shetland Pony Grand National were well received once again, adding to the family appeal of the show.

2002:

The 31st Olympia International Show Jumping Championships ended on a brilliantly optimistic note for British show jumping when Robert Smith swept all before him to win the Lalique Trophy as leading rider of the show with a plethora of placings on his two super young horses Mr Springfield and Marius Claudius.

Robert’s haul included both the Sony Ericsson World Cup qualifier - at £18,500 to the winner the richest prize of the show - plus the preliminary qualifying round and, finally, runner-up spot by the closest possible margin in the final contest, the Sony Ericsson Grand Prix worth £13,300 on Monday night.

Clear rounds in the World Cup qualifier propelled British riders Andrew Davies and Richard Davenport into World Cup reckoning, while Sunday night’s Ivy Stakes saw a stunning British 1-2-3-4 headed by Robert Smith.

The young German newcomer to Olympia, Toni Hassman, 27, also had an Olympia to remember, beat some top-class opposition to win four classes including the Sony Ericsson Grand prix, which carried a total prize fund of £40,000,

Popular audience entertainment, including the Metropolitan Police, the Hungarian Czikos, Pedigree Dog Agility, Shetland Pony Grand National and, new this year, the Leaping Frogs – France’s answer to the Chippendales – proved massively successful to a sell-out crowd all weekend; top model Jodie Kidd drew a crowd when she opened the new Olympia Shopping Village, and Olympia’s mascot, Queenie the Shetland foal, cheered children at Great Ormond Street.

2003:

Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum, the American-born and her coveted Thoroughbred horse Shutterfly triumphed in a thrilling 10-horse jump-off in the Olympia Grand Prix. But it was John Whitaker who was leading rider of the show, thanks to fourth place in the Grand Prix on Lord Z and a host of other useful placings. Meredith’s achievement meant that Olympia’s two main classes were won by lady riders who took German nationality, Helena Weinberg having won the previous day’s £18,500 Sony Ericsson World Cup qualifier. For the second year running, Robert Smith finished runner-up in the Grand Prix, this time riding Kalusha.

Ticket sales at Olympia were up to a record 75,500 and the capacity crowd created a fabulous atmosphere night after night. Popular new additions to the schedule were the Celtic Dance, a graceful dressage display, and the dynamic Crazy Horse Band, while the finale, with Michael Parker’s circus theme, was voted the best ever.

2004:

For the first time Olympia became a seven day show hosting an FEI World Cup Dressage Qualifier over the first two days of the show. Over the seven days an audience of 80,000 including a total sell out of the 330 hospitality boxes on offer, provided a showcase for the top international riders in both Dressage and Show Jumping.

The show enjoyed over 36 hours of television including coverage on BBC’s Interactive channel of the whole of the Saturday afternoon performance, for the first time, as well as a BBC2 Grandstand package which featured live coverage of the Show Jumping World Cup Qualifier.

The first ever FEI Dressage World Cup Qualifier was won on the Wednesday evening with immense style by Spanish Olympic Bronze Medallist Beatriz Ferrer-Salat.

The World’s No.1 Show Jumper, Brazilian Rodrigo Pessoa, headed the line-up of show jumpers but it was the young British riders Richard Davenport, Ellen Whitaker and cousin Robert Whitaker who were the stars of the show. Davenport won the FEI Show Jumping World Cup Qualifier and the other big wins of the week included the equal placings of John Whitaker and Michael Aabo in the Accenture Puissance, Robert Smith in the Masters and Guy Williams winning the inaugural Mitsubishi Motors Ride & Drive.

The Brits though didn’t have it all their own way, the Leading Rider of the Show was Marcus Ehning (GER) who had a highly successful show, capped by winning The Grand Prix on Monday evening.

In addition to the jumping classes, the show, played host to many family favourites such as the Osborne Refrigerators Shetland Pony Grand National, the Flying French Frogs, Pedigree Dog Agility and the Bovey Castle Christmas Finale, which marked the end of each of the eleven performances. These world famous displays were interspersed between the shows two feature displays the Barcelona Mounted Police and the Metropolitan Mounted Police.

2005:

The Household Cavalry and the Garde Republicaine were the feature acts. The week started with a win in the Grand Prix Kur for the World’s No. 1 Dressage Rider Anky Van Grunsven with young British rider Laura Bechtolsheimer pulling out all the stops for 6th place.

John Whitaker took joint first in the Puissance riding Exploit du Ruoulard. South Notts Pony Club Branch Member Rosie Gunn was teamed with Ellen Whitaker to the Mini Major Relay and Zara Phillips’s Toytown won the THB Event Horse of the Year. Arko III won the equivalent trophy for Show Jumpers with Skelton’s other ride Russel winning the six bar.

The Riding Clubs Quadrille was won by Saffron Walden.

Jessica Kurten made her Olympia debut and young Ben Maher won the Mitsubishi Ride and Dive

Robert Smith pulled off a sensational double when he won both the Grand Prix and the World Cup qualifier on the enigmatic grey Kalusha.

HRH Princess Haya of Jordan visited the show to present the World Cup Qualifier trophy and HRH The Duchess of Cornwall attended on the final evening to present the Grand Prix trophy and enjoyed a tour of the backstage area.