Photo 1 : Canadian Eric Lamaze on his lap of honour after winning individual gold with Hickstead.

Eric Lamaze thought that all his dreams had come true when he was part of the Canadian trio that claimed team silver on Monday, but that was only the start of it. Tonight the 40-year-old added individual gold to his haul to make Canadian history.

"It's really been our week", an emotional Lamaze said after beating Sweden's Rolf-Goran Bengtsson in a two-way jump-off for the Olympic title. "We were really happy with the team silver, but this is the icing on the cake."

With Typhoon Nuri strengthening all the time, the clock was ticking in more ways than one, but most important was the giant digital clock notching up the seconds as Lamaze and the brilliant horse Hickstead galloped their way to gold.

A jump-off was the perfect finish to the Olympic equestrian events, but actually the packed stands got a double whammy, as the battle for gold was preceded by a seven-way race for the bronze, with America's Beezie Madden just nudging out European champion Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum.

Photo 2:
Canadian fans celebrate Canada's first-ever individual Olympic gold medal in jumping.

Photo 3:
Sweden's Rolf-Goran Bengtsson had to settle for silver after being beaten against the clock by Lamaze.

Photo 4:
America's Beezie Madden and Authentic won a seven-way jump-off for the bronze.

After 12 sessions of incredible Olympic equestrian competition, everyone is gearing up for tomorrow night's final showdown that will decide the individual jumping gold. And the world's best are tuning up for the battle of the giants, with 35 equine and human superstars ready to tackle another of Leopoldo Palacios and Steve Stephens' mega-tough tracks.

All those that have made the grade for the semis now go back to a zero score, meaning that everyone has an equal chance of getting through to the top-20 final, but the only definite winners at this moment are the spectators, who will get to see two rounds of unbelievable jumping over two very different but beautifully designed courses.

There are so many incredible horses and riders in the shake-up that it's hard to single out anyone, but favourites have to be Belgium's world champion Jos Lansink (Cumano), defending Olympic champion Rodrigo Pessoa of Brazil with Rufus and European champion Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum who rides the brilliant little Shutterfly for Germany.

But then there's Denis Lynch for Ireland, Edwina Alexander for Australia and, even though things haven't gone according to plan for him so far, it's impossible to overlook Germany's Ludger Beerbaum. And don't discount young Briton Ben Maher with Rolette.

Photo 1:
World champion Jos Lansink is one of the favourites to take the Olympic jumping title tomorrow night.

Photo 2:
Ireland's Denis Lynch should be right up there at the finish.

Photo 3:
Ben Maher may be the youngest of the British team, but he will be challenging for the top tomorrow.

Photo 1 : Anky van Grunsven's smile says it all - the first rider ever to win three consecutive individual Olympic titles.

Anky van Grunsven has been a legend in equestrian circles for many years, but tonight she went into the record books as the first rider ever to win three consecutive individual Olympic titles.

Maybe the Hong Kong crowd doesn't understand the finer points of dressage, but they know a champion when they see one and they cheered until they were hoarse (pardon the pun!).

The Olympic dressage was billed as the big showdown between the two Amazonians, Holland's Van Grunsven and Germany's Isabell Werth, and it didn't disappoint, with Werth going into tonight's showdown with the narrowest of advantages.

The German horse Satchmo had misbehaved twice in the piaffe in the build-up to the grand finale and he did exactly the same in tonight's freestyle halfway through the piaffe pirouette. One mistake and it was all over. The edge was gone and Werth knew it.

Van Grunsven, last into the arena, was aware that the gold was virtually in the bag, but showman to the last, she gave it her all to win by an emphatic margin.

Even before the Dutch anthem rang out around the arena and the red, white and blue flag of Holland rose above the two German flags for Werth and compatriot Heike Kemmer in bronze, Van Grunsven was crying. It was a night full of emotion and drama. Equestrian sport at its best - yet again!

Photo 2:
Silver medalist Isabell Werth congratulates her rival Anky van Grunsven after her historic win.

Photo 3:
Germany's Heike Kemmer rode Bonaparte to claim individual bronze

Photo 4:
Dutch fans cheer on their heroine, Anky van Grunsven

Photo 1 : America's McLain Ward, Will Simpson, Laura Kraut and Beezie Madden celebrate after winning team gold in a jump-off against the Canadians.

IOC President Jacques Rogge was on hand to see the most thrilling of finishes to the Olympic jumping at Sha Tin tonight, with America finishing on top after a historic jump-off for gold against a three-man Canadian team.

It was show jumping at its best and the place was pulsating with excitement when Canada and America finished the first round level-pegging on 20 faults, meaning they had to come back in to jump against the clock.

The Norwegians, who hadn't even expected to get into tonight's team decider, were already celebrating bronze, but there was still work to do for the top two nations before the medals could be awarded.

And the Americans took it on from the outset, out-galloping and out-jumping the Canadians to claim their second team jumping gold in two Olympics, except this time they got the gold on the night. In Athens they had to wait for more than a year after the Germans failed to fend off disqualification, despite an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The American celebrations are expected to last well into tomorrow and Patrick Lam, Hong Kong's only remaining rider in tonight's round, has reason to celebrate too. He wasn't clear - far from it - but, as he said himself, he survived and he and his horse have bowed out of these Olympics as Hong Kong heroes.

Photo 2:
American supporters celebrate victory in the team competition.

Photo 3:
Tony Andre Hansen clinched team bronze for Norway and now heads the individual standings and will jump last in Thursday's semi-final.

Photo 4:
Hong Kong media pictured with Patrick Lam after his final outing in the Olympic jumping competition.

Photo 1 and 2: Patrick Lam was the picture of concentration before his round with Urban, but was all smiles after slotting into 22nd overall amongst the world¡¦s best riders.

Patrick Lam is on cloud nine after another wonderful round in world-class company that has left him in 22nd place and easily qualified for tomorrow night's top-50 round that will decide the team medals.

Alas Hong Kong won't make the cut for the top eight that will battle it out for the team honours over an even bigger course, but Patrick Lam will be there, flying the flag for Hong Kong and bidding to get into Thursday's individual semi-final. 

The way Patrick and his fabulous stallion son of Darco are jumping, they not only deserve to be in the semi-final, they have every chance of getting through and the crowd will be willing them every step of the way tomorrow night. And Patrick is loving every bit of it.

"It's a dream", he said after hitting just two fences to slot into equal 22nd place. "It's like I didn't wake up. When the crowd helps you it's like wings." (There's a certain energy drink company that should seriously think about sponsoring Patrick!)

In a drama-filled class that saw some of the sports superstars faulting, Jamal Rahimov of Azerbaijan was taken to hospital after a heavy fall, but thankfully he was discharged after a thorough check-up. 

So now the top nine teams, plus the leading individuals to make up 50 in total, go through to tomorrow night and just two fences cover all the teams. The medals could go anywhere but, sticking my neck out, I think the defending champions, America, will be hard to beat.

Photo 2:

Photo 3:
The Hong Kong supporters in the crowd had plenty to cheer about tonight, particularly with Patrick Lam¡¦s performance, but Kenneth Cheng and Samantha Lam will take no further part after missing the top-50.

Photo 4:
Reigning Olympic champion Rodrigo Pessoa of Brazil is lying third after a brilliant clear with Rufus.

Photo 1: Olympic spectators sporting Dutch orange for Anky van Grunsven, second going into Tuesday's individual final.

What a difference a day makes! In fact, what a difference a split second makes! Germany's Isabell Werth was so far ahead on marks that the opposition was just waiting to be annihilated and then suddenly, as Werth asked Satchmo to execute the dancing on the spot move known as piaffe, he shot backwards, whirled round and nearly leapt out of the arena.

Satchmo has produced so many wonderful winning performances, but this wasn't the first time he'd added in his own bit of freestyle to the test and always at the same point, the first piaffe. The blip meant that Werth, a multiple medalist, was left off the German team for Athens 2004.

Apparently it had been ironed out and Satchmo was rock solid, a sure fire thing, as he proved when leading Germany to team gold on Thursday night. But then it reared its ugly head again and, instead of being streets ahead of her age-old rival Anky van Grunsven, Werth is now only a fraction ahead and the Dutch woman is notorious for pulling out the big performance when it counts, in the freestyle.

So everything hangs on Tuesday night when the top 15 will battle it out for the title of Olympic champion. But, in the meantime, we have two nights of world class jumping to look forward to

Photo 2:
Germany's Heike Kemmer rode a beautiful test on Bonaparte to slot into third, ready to challenge for a medal on Tuesday night.

Photo 3:
Princess Nathalie zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, who rides for Denmark, puts in the finishing touches before her test with the home-bred Digby.

Photo 4:
Not vive la France! French rider Marc Boblet just missed out on a top 20 placing with Whitini Star

Photo 1: Patrick Lam gave Hong Kong the best possible start with a clear round on Urban in the first round of the Olympic jumping competition to share equal first place.

What an unbelievable night for Hong Kong! What an unbelievable night for Patrick Lam! The 25-year-old is a self-confessed rookie, but he rode like a real champion tonight to go clear for Hong Kong when some of the world's best riders were leaving rails on the floor.

Jennifer Lee's last-minute withdrawal was a major blow to Hong Kong, but the remaining three riders are real fighters and were determined to show the Sha Tin spectators that they had every reason to be proud of them.

The crowd went wild, even before Lam and the stallion Urban had jumped a single fence, but when they put in a foot-perfect round, they went crazy! And the object of their affections went a little bit crazy too, galloping round the ring and flinging his hat into the air as the cheers reverberated around the arena.

With one clear in the bag, the crowd wanted more, but Samantha Lam was in agonizing pain from a back injury and was lucky to get around with just three fences down. Still the crowd loved her. And they loved young Kenneth Cheng when he faulted just once to leave the team in 11th place, one slot ahead of Germany, one of the favourites to take the title.

But there's still a long way to go and the fences will get bigger and wider.

Photo 2:
Hong Kong team members Samantha Lam, Kenneth Cheng and Patrick Lam with some of their supporters.

Photo 3:
Kenneth Cheng meets the media after hitting just one fence and picking up two time faults for Team Hong Kong.

Photo 4:
Li Zhenqiang was part of China's first-ever Olympic jumping team

Photo 1: Isabell Werth's stunning performance under pressure clinched team gold for Germany.

Is Germany going to go right through the Olympic card like they did on home turf in Berlin 1936? They've had a 100 per cent success rate at these Games so far - three medal ceremonies and Germany has been on the top step of the podium in each one.

The way Isabell Werth rode tonight when the pressure was on her to score over 72 per cent was pure magic. Not only did her stunning performance clinch team gold for Germany, it also put her out in front in the individual standings and served notice that the individual gold doesn't have defending champion Anky van Grunsven's name on it - yet!

The rivalry between Dutch rider Van Grunsven and Germany's Werth has been going on for so long that it's hard to imagine anyone else getting a look in at the top. Werth and the entire German team were gutted to lose out to the Netherlands at last year's European championships. Now they've made amends on the Olympic stage and Werth looks to be on form for the individual title. It's going to be a fascinating battle!

Unfortunately, two that won't make the cut for the individual semi-final are Japanese veteran Hiroshi Hoketsu and China's first-ever Olympic dressage rider Lina Liu, but even Hoketsu who, at 67, is the oldest rider competing here in Hong Kong, says he's not giving up yet.

Photo 2:
Japan's Hiroshi Hoketsu, back on the Olympic stage after a 44 year gap, will go no further in Hong Kong after missing out on a top-25 placing with the mare Whisper.

Photo 3:
The Germans celebrate a seventh successive Olympic team gold in dressage.

Photo 4:
Anky van Grunsven led the Dutch to team silver and now has to defend her individual title against the German challenge from Isabell Werth.

Photo 1:
Heike Kemmer pats Bonaparte after scoring top marks in tonight's dressage Grand Prix to give Germany the advantage going into tomorrow's second half of the team competition.

Photo 2:
Emma Hindle is congratulated by British team manager Richard Davison after slotting into second place.

Photo 3:
Imke Schellekens-Bartels and Sunrise put in a solid performance for the Dutch team, but they will still have their work cut out to finish ahead of Germany tomorrow.

Photo 1:
German dentist Hinrich Romeike, who rides as an amateur, shows off his two Olympic gold medals. "Life's a rollercoaster", he said after his incredible double victory, "you've just got to ride it."

Photo 2:
The Germans celebrate team gold.

Photo 3:
Gina Miles of the USA is congratulated by her husband Morgan and two children after clinching individual silver

Photo 1:
Club Chief Executive Officer Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges (right) watches from a vantage point near the Great Wall fence.

Photo 2:
Record crowds flocked to the Beas River venue to watch today's Olympic cross-country action.

Photo 1:
American team rider Karen O'Connor, seen here with the Club's Executive Director of Charities William Yiu, is the proud owner of a brand new tailcoat made by a Kowloon tailor.

Photo 2:
Germany's Andreas Dibowski gets a congratulatory hug from team mate Ingrid Klimke after moving into 11th in the dressage rankings.

Photo 3:
Athens team silver medalist Mary King may be 47, but she's lost none of her edge and is best placed of the British in ninth going into tomorrow's cross-country.

Photo 1:
Alex Hua Tian made history tonight as the first-ever Chinese rider to compete in the Olympic eventing competition.

Photo 2:
HRH Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, President of the Federation Equestre Internationale, arrived from Beijing in time to see the evening's dressage action.

Photo 3:
The Olympic equestrian venue at Sha Tin was close to capacity for last night's competition under floodlights.