From Grania Willis in Sydney

01/10/00: Double Dutch brought the Sydney 2000 Olympics to a close at the equestrian venue in Horsley Park today as Jeroen Dubbeldam claimed individual gold in the show jumping to go with the individual dressage title won by his compatriot Anky van Grunsven 24 hours earlier.

Rodrigo Pessoa, joint-leader going into the final round, was hot favourite to take the title, but the world champion suffered the ignominy of being eliminated when Baloubet du Rouet stopped three times at the double.

"It's difficult to explain what happened", the triple World Cup winner said.

"It's a big character lesson and it's very hard to swallow. But the effort he had to make coming out of the combination, I felt maybe something was bugging him. I'm not looking for excuses, I just hope the horse is fine."

Pessoa was last to jump and, when the other three that had also gone clear in the first round all faulted, the Brazilian only had to go clear to clinch his first ever Olympic title. His elimination left the three riders with just one mistake apiece to jump off for the gold.

Dubbeldam's compatriot Albert Voorn was first in to set the pace against the clock with the 12-year-old Lando, which has already been bought by Paul Schockemohle for Otto Becker to ride. Clear to the very last, the stallion trailed off the top rail from the Athens 2004 last fence and the cheers were stifled in Dutch throats.

But it didn't take long to get the orange army cheering once again as next in, Dubbeldam soared to a clear with De Sjiem - The Grey One. And, when Saud Arabian Khaled Al Eid hit the second fence, it was all over bar the shouting, and there was plenty of that.

Voorn's time of 44.72 seconds was just fast enough to earn him the silver, with Al Eid winning Saudi Arabia's first ever Olympic equestrian medal, which was some compensation for the Pessoa family, as Rodrigo's father Nelson trains the Saudi team at his base in Belgium.

Dubbeldam and Voorn were both completely overcome with the moment, in floods of tears before they got anywhere near the medal podium. "I'm unbelievably happy", Dubbeldam said, with tears pouring down his face. "I've had the horse for four years and I've finished second in Grand Prix everywhere, but I've never won. Now I've won the Olympics and I think that's probably better."

Voorn, getting more emotional by the minute, said that the silver medal was "a dream come true". The 44-year-old has had a roller coaster career, with his best horses being sold from under him on so many occasions, including this one. "It'll take me half a year to come back", he said, "but I will come back, because the taste of this is so good."

The back-to-back wins from van Grunsven and Dubbeldam, plus Voorn's silver set off another bout of raucous celebrations from the huge contingent of Dutch supporters, cheering on Holland's first individual Olympic wins in equestrian sport since 1932.

Heineken House, the official Dutch watering hole in Sydney's Darling Harbour, was heaving with bodies last night to celebrate a third cycling gold, Anky van Grunsven's win and then the successful defence of the hockey crown. Now there's another triumph to recharge the party that's been ongoing throughout the Games.