Our Proud Olympic History - 1972 Munich
Nicola Turner, EFA National Office, Sunday, 1 June 2008
Australian Eventing Team finishes fourth.
In 1972 Australia fielded just an Eventing Team at the Munich Olympics. Richard Sands (Depeche), Brian Schrapel (Wakool), Clarke Roycroft (Furtive) and Bill Roycroft (Warrathoola) trained in England before flying to Germany.
Wakool who was the first horse to be unloaded at Luton airport. He was half out of the plane when the airport crew discovered that they had the wrong equipment. He was left half in and half out of the plane whilst they went to find a bigger forklift! Once safely on the ground the team went to the competition venue at Riem. The horses were accommodated in very modern stables with air conditioning and very good training facilities.
The team performed very well earning fourth place. Individually, Bill Roycroft was the highest place getter finishing 6th. Richards Sands was in gold medal position right to the last showjump fence which he unfortunately had down dropping him to 7th position.
The Team was most grateful that their competition was over before the Israeli massacre in the Olympic Village that changed the atmosphere of the Games.
