Britain ends long equestrian drought

LONDON, Aug. 6 (UPI) -- Britain won its first Olympic equestrian team jumping gold in 60 years Monday, doing so in a series of tie breaking jumps with the Netherlands.

After two rounds of jumping left Britain and the Netherlands tied for first place, each of the four riders from the two countries went out for another trip around the course.

The jumping was held at Greenwich Park, which has been a royal park since the 1400s and which attracted a standing-room only crowd of 23,000 Monday to watch the event.

British riders Nick Skelton, Ben Maher and Peter Charles all had perfect rides while two of the riders from the Netherlands knocked down fences along the way.

Saudi Arabia had the lead after the first round up of jumping, but piled up 13 penalties during the second round -- six more than Britain and the Netherlands -- and wound up third.

The Saudi bronze medal was the third in Olympic history for that country.

Skelton has a chance for another gold medal when the individual jumping awards are handed out Wednesday. He was tied for the lead in qualifying.