Van Grunsven gets gold with a record effort

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Sydney: Dutchwoman Anky Van Grunsven finally got the better of her long-term rival Isabell Werth to win the Olympic gold medal in the individual dressage event today with a world record freestyle test.

Van Grunsven finished on 239.18 points after the three dressage rounds - grand prix, grand prix special and freestyle - ahead of German Werth, the 1996 gold medallist, on 234.19. Germany's Ulla Salzgeber won bronze with a score of 230.57.

''I don't think that somebody could be more happy than I with my gold medal today,'' a beaming Van Grunsven said. ''I think everybody knows well the story of Isabell and I 'fighting' for the last years, and it's always been very close,'' she added..

It was Van Grunsven's first Olympic gold. She previously won three silver medals - one individual and two team - and each time Werth had picked up the gold ahead of her. Werth also narrowly pipped her in the 1998 World Championships.

Werth and her horse Gigolo put the pressure on her when, with the top five riders competing in reverse order, she scored 82.0 for her freestyle round. But Van Grunsven and her mount Bonfire responded with a world record 86.05 in the final ride of the day and clinched The Netherlands' first dressage gold.

''I don't feel at all as if I have lost the gold medal, I feel that I really have won the silver medal and it is a crowning achievement for my horse and myself,'' said Werth, who later cried as she thanked her support team.

Werth's silver was her second, and she also has four gold medals. She won gold as a member of the German teams in Barcelona, Atlanta, and Sydney earlier this week. She won individual gold in Atlanta and silver in Barcelona.



(c) Reuters Limited.