Shocking Moment: Swedish Olympic Showjumper and World No. 1 is Thrown Over the top of his Horse

The drama unfolded in the men's Olympic individual show jumping final on Tuesday. Two riders were thrown from their horses in separate incidents as they made their way around the course at the Palace of Versailles.

Swedish rider and world No 1 Henrick von Eckermann was shockingly thrown from his horse and into a sign, during his round at the event, while Mexico's Andres Azcarraga was nearly thrown into a pool of water by his horse.

BBC commentators Andy Austin and Nick Luck were left perplexed by the incident that saw Von Eckermann lose control of his horse, King Edward, as he made his way around the course.


The duo were around 35 seconds into their run and were going well when King Edward appeared to lose his balance coming down from a jump.

The horse subsequently galloped towards the side of the arena, where he stopped suddenly, throwing Von Eckermann forwards, head over heels into a piece of apparatus.

The rider seemed to hit the floor first with the soles of his feet before his back landed on the dusty ground and luckily, while he appeared to be jaded by the fall, he quickly rose to his feet to walk after King Edward, who had galloped off in the other direction.

The Swede, who clinched gold at Tokyo 2020 in team jumping and two gold medals in the 2022 World Championships, was eliminated following the fall.

Austin told the BBC that it was 'the most extraordinary thing' he had ever seen.

Eurosport commentator, Richard Vaughan, stated: 'I can’t believe it.

'Something was not right. He looked a bit odd yesterday, I thought they did very well to scramble around but it has all fallen apart.

'It was unraveling earlier on. They got over the big double then the water seemed OK but then after that, the horse seemed to run away.'

Mexico's Azcarraga also took a concerning tumble and narrowly avoided plunging into a pool of water situated in the middle of the showjumping arena.

A video posted on social media saw the rider narrowly hanging on for dear life to the horse's reins after falling to the ground spinning.

Germany's Christian Kukuk would go on to claim gold on board Checker 47 while Steve Guerdat and Dynamix De Belheme would take silver.

The Netherlands' Maikel van der Vleuten and Beauville Z took bronze, while Team GB's Scott Brash and Ben Maher would come sixth and ninth respectively.

Earlier this morning, fellow Brit Harry Charles announced that he would not be competing in the individual jumps.

It came after the three British riders had claimed gold in the team jumps last week. But Charles' horse, Romeo 88, appeared to have sustained an injury, ruling the duo out of today's event.

Charles is also dating the daughter of the late Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, Eve, an American model, who also competes in showjumping.

He took to Instagram on Tuesday morning to state that Romeo 88 had suffered a 'small overreach' and had opted to not compete as a precautionary measure.