Irish left with their individual aspirations

Kevin Babington celebrated his 36th birthday in great style yesterday, jumping a superb first-round clear with the chestnut Carling King to move up the individual rankings from overnight 17th to fourth in Markopoulo and dropping just one slot with a rail off in the final round last night. But, even with a clear from Jessica Kuerten and Castle Forbes Maike at the second attempt, it wasn't enough to boost the Irish up into the medals, with the team finishing seventh overall.

Morale in the Irish show-jumping camp, which had been so buoyant after Sunday's first individual qualifier, had been sent spiralling downwards when first man in Cian O'Connor lowered three with Waterford Crystal in the first round of yesterday's team decider. That seemed bad enough, but if that was a disaster, Marion Hughes's round turned into a nightmare that ended with the stallion Fortunus hobbling out of the arena on three legs.

Clear all the way to the ninth of 14 fences, the grey was a long way off the giant oxer and crashed straight into the middle of the fence, landing in a jumble of poles and green fillers. After checking to see if there were any injuries visible from on board, Hughes trotted the nine-year-old round in a circle, but the horse was obviously lame and Hughes was forced to retire.

Irish team vet Marcus Swail examined Fortunus and discovered a loose shoe had twisted and pierced the sole of the left front foot. The horse had loosened the shoe after jumping the double at four and, despite the discomfort, had continued jumping until - unable to make up the distance from the previous fence - he crashed at the ninth, pulling the shoe off completely.

"He'd really made himself sore", a devastated Hughes said after the first round, "and he couldn't go on like that."

Further examination by the vet revealed that it was the toe clip of the shoe that had done the damage. The injury was poulticed to draw out dirt that had gone into the hole and the foot was then iced, but the stallion was still lame by mid-afternoon.

"It's a bit like you or me treading on a piece of glass," Swail said yesterday.

With Hughes out of the picture, the scores from both Kuerten and anchorman Babington were going to be vital, but two late fences down for Kuerten and a time fault when Castle Forbes Maike was .16 of a second too slow kept Ireland in the doldrums.

Only 10 of the 16 nations would make it through to the evening's second round and the pressure was on Babington to produce the goods. And produce them he did, with a sensational clear that put the team into the evening's final in ninth and boosted Babington himself up into fourth individually.

But the dramas didn't just affect the Irish. France lost their World Cup winner Dileme de Cephe, which badly strained a tendon early in his round and had to be removed from the arena by horse ambulance. A similar fate befell the Argentinian horse Who Knows Lilly, but both horses are said to be responding to treatment at the on-site veterinary facility in Markopoulo.

The French downward spiral continued when Eric Navet, team gold and individual silver medallist at the 2002 world equestrian games, pulled out the stallion Dollar du Maurier, which had had an uncharacteristic four fences down after stopping numerous times out in the warm-up arena. That meant the end of the French team, allowing the Koreans through to the second round.

Thankfully, Hughes's stallion was another that responded well to intensive treatment from Swail and Australian farrier Andrew Skinner, with their combined efforts producing a miraculous recovery.

The talented grey was sound in time to jump the second round and, brave to the last, cleared all the fences right through to the last part of the combination three from home. That and the last both went for eight plus two on the clock to add to Cian O'Connor's nine, but it was still good enough to move the Irish up a place to eighth.

A fabulous clear from Kuerten and the mare Castle Forbes Maike meant another leap up the placings to sixth, but Babington's rail coming out of the combination and a resurgence from the Belgians meant seventh was the best that could be achieved at the close of play.

But there was better news on the individual front, with Babington, Kuerten and O'Connor all through to Friday's individual final, in which the top 45 all start on zero scores.

The Germans, stripped of their team and individual gold in the eventing, last night stormed to team gold to add to the victory claimed in Monday's team dressage final.

And, in a jump-off for silver, the Americans galloped their way into second, with a seven-second advantage over the Swedes.

Morkopoulo results

TEAM JUMPING: 1 Germany (Ahlmann, Kutscher, Becker, Beerbaum) 8 pts; 2 USA (Kappler, Madden, Ward, Wylde) 20 pts (silver/bronze jump-off 131.09 seconds); 3 Sweden (Fredericson, Bengtsson, Eriksson, Baryard) 20 pts (jump-off 138.48 seconds); 7 Ireland (Cian O'Connor, Marion Hughes, Jessica Kuerten, Kevin Babington) 36 pts.