Olympics: Mark Todd's ride for a place in history

New Zealand's Mark Todd, riding Campino, is in line for a possible fifth or even sixth Olympic team. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Early tomorrow morning New Zealand equestrian rider Mark Todd will ride off for a shot at his fifth Olympic medal and possible third gold, which will arguably rank him as New Zealand's greatest ever Olympian.

After surviving a brush with a bull elephant earlier in the year Todd, competing in a record seventh Olympics, now faces an equally imposing challenge of reaching the heights of New Zealand's most successful Olympians with two more medals up for grabs.

Here's a breakdown of when and how New Zealand's first medal of London 2012 could be won.

WHAT:
Todd and his horse Campino sit in third place heading into the third and final stage of the three-day eventing, the showjumping. After a third placing in the dressage stage, Todd rode a near-perfect run in the cross country with his only mistake coming on the final jump across the finish line.

A mistake-free run would have seen him sit in gold medal position but the one error places him only 0.20 penalty points behind Germany's Ingrid Klimke and Sweden's Sara Algotsson Ostholt who share top spot.

With four penalty points for a dropped rail in the showjumping, one mistake from his rivals could see Todd move into gold. Conversely with less than three points separating the top six, a mistake by Todd could see him drop of the medals completely.

WHEN:
The team section of the showjumping begins at 9.30pm NZT and will end just after midnight. New Zealand currently sit in fourth just behind Sweden, so Todd could have a his fifth Olympic medal before his individual ride begins.

From 1.30am the top 25 riders have a second shot at the showjumping course with their scores counting towards the individual medals. Todd will jump third to last which will be around 2.30am.

RIVALS:
Current leader Klimke won gold in the team event with Germany four years ago and finished fifth in the individual event, the same placing she had in Athens in 2004. With Germany leading the team event, Klimke is in line to become the first rider since Britain's Richard Meade in Munich 40 years ago to win two golds in eventing.

Algotsson Ostholt is attempting to become the first Swede to win a medal in the individual eventing since 1972. The country's last individual eventing gold was in 1956. The pressure is also on the Swedish team with their drought in the team event going further back to 1952.

Fourth placed Michael Jung from Germany is considered one of the best in eventing showjumping and would have a chance to put real pressure on the top three with a clear round.

British duo Kristina Cook and Mary King are both less than 3.0 penalty points behind Todd and will have the home crowd on their side.

WHAT'S AT STAKE?:
Todd, who was named rider of the 20th Century by equestrian's governing body, could achieve a rare feat of three Olympic gold medals over a span of 28 years.

A third gold would put him in a share of second amongst New Zealand's most successful Olympians with middle distance runner Peter Snell and canoiest Paul MacDonald.

Ian Ferguson is the most successful with four golds.

Any medal would take his overall haul to five, a tie with Ferguson and MacDonald, but he could end the day with two medals in London putting him on top of the list.

Todd's second triumph in 1988 was ranked no.11 in the Herald's list of 20 NZ Olympic Moments.

ODDS:
Australian bookies sportsbet.com.au have listed Todd as joint-favourite with Jung to take the gold at $3.75. Klimke is listed at $5.50 and Algottson Ostholt at $4.50.

TODD'S CV
1984 - Gold - Individual Three Day Event
1988 - Gold - Individual Three Day Event
1988 - Bronze - Team Three Day Event
2000 - Bronze - Individual Three Day Event

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- HERALD ONLINE