Knight Manuel Grave breaks collarbone in fall, bids farewell to Olympics

Portuguese rider Manuel Grave broke his collarbone in a fall he suffered this Sunday in the cross-country event of the Paris 2024 equestrian competition. He said goodbye to his Olympic debut, happy with the experience but sad about the result.

“I have some pain, I had a dislocated shoulder and a broken collarbone. Now I have to have an operation in Portugal. The experience, while it lasted, was very good, very good. Incredible atmosphere, sensations that I have never felt anywhere. Otherwise, no more competitions. In fact, the atmosphere of the Olympic Games is inexplicable,” he concluded.

Finishing the dressage in 59th place with 40.90 penalty points, Manuel Grave fell while attempting to jump one of the obstacles on the Versailles Palace course on Saturday.

Speaking to Lusa, the rider also assured that the horse Carat de Bremois “does not have any injuries” and has already been “reshod” after the observation.

For Manuel Grave, the cross was “the most important event” because it is the stage “that gives and takes”, that is, the one in which “there is a high probability of an accident or a fall”.

“This is the stage where we are more likely to be thrown out and disqualified than others. In dressage and in obstacles, with more touches, less touches or a less good result, it is difficult to get disqualified,” he noted.

The Portuguese debutant was “very unlucky” because Cara de Bremois lost a horseshoe before the jump in which he fell.

“And I saw it because a horseshoe rolled in front of me and it occurred to me, ‘I’m out of spikes on my horse, so he’s going to give me the rest of the crosspiece,'” he told Luse, also saying the horse tripped during the jump.

But even a series of bad luck did not prevent the 34-year-old athlete from Alentejo from bringing back wonderful memories of his Olympic debut from Paris.

“Even if I came back and knew that things might not go well, I would still come. It’s very difficult, all these days that we spent here are very emotional, and I have been looking for this for many years. Obviously, trying to get to the end with the best possible classification, it would allow me to feel the most satisfied. But I can’t say it was a bad experience, because these were very intense, very exciting days. very, I don’t even know, very spectacular in all aspects,” he emphasized.

Grave bids farewell to the French capital “very happy with the experience, but at the same time very upset with how it all went.”

“Right now I’m trying to recover as quickly as possible to see if I can qualify for the next ones,” he concluded.