August 9, 2016 
You could say he’s rather “happy” with the result.
Rio was not the Olympics Games the US eventing team was planning. A lacklustre start in dressage put the Americans in a distant seventh in the team results. Then two incomplete cross country rounds put paid to any hope of a team finish. It was not the makings of a magical Olympic moment.
That is, until “the Messiah” came along.
Riding his reserve horse, the 12-year-old Mighty Nice (aka, Happy), team USA’s anchor rider Phillip Dutton delivered time and again over four grueling days of competition.
There was the personal best in dressage (43.60). A handful of time penalties over an epically challenging cross country course (3.20). And then, today. Two brilliant rounds of show jumping that saw a single time fault in the first round and one rail in the second.
The result: redemption in the form of a bronze medal.
“Obviously, I am very proud of my horse. It wasn’t a great team day for the U.S. yesterday, but I was pleased with the way it ended up for Boyd and myself and couldn’t be more proud of my horse. He’s a pretty cool horse to be around….it was formerly owned by Bruce Duchossois who passed away last year, so he’s a very special horse to me,” said Dutton.
“I wasn’t actually expecting a medal today. I was pretty happy with fourth, but now I am pretty ecstatic with third!”
It’s Dutton’s first individual Olympic medal. He previously won team gold at the 1996 Atlanta and 2000 Sydney Olympics.
The only person not surprised by his heroic feat: teammate Boyd Martin.
“That is the Messiah of event riding, Phillip. Anything is possible from the Messiah,” joked Martin.
Defending Olympic champion Michael Jung of Germany retained his title as the reigning King of Eventing, also aboard his reserve horse. Sam FBW is only the third eventing horse in history to capture back-to-back gold medals at an Olympic Games.
France’s 27-year-old Astier Nicolas took the individual silver and team gold in his first international championship.
From Left to right Silver Nicolas Astier FRA, Gold Michael Jung GER and Philip Dutton USA Bronze.
Pic Arnd Bronkhorst
