By Bryn Palmer, Sydney

British team factfiles

Proud British team manager Matt Straker saluted the tenacity of the Three-Day Event team after they overcame the withdrawal of Ian Stark to clinch a silver medal at the close of the showjumping competition on Tuesday.

With Stark watching anxiously from the sidelines at Horsley Park after his mount Jaybee was declared unfit following Monday's fall in the cross-country, the remaining three British riders all completed solid rounds to keep the pressure on leaders Australia.

Jeanette Brakewell incurred 11 penalty points on Over To You, Leslie Law 10 with Shear H20 and Pippa Funnell 13 on Supreme Rock, enough to claim Britain's fifth medal of the Games and their first Olympic equestrian medal since 1988.

"I'm delighted, thrilled to bits," said Straker. "It was a fantastically hard fought competition and the intensity remained right until the last two jumps.

"For us to win our first medal since 1988 is a huge boost. Inevitably they wanted the gold, and they fought right to the bitter end.

"But the best team came through. They (Australia) had four horses and we were down to three, but I'm really proud of them. They worked really hard and they got what they deserved."

In the end Britain were left relying on the remote possibility that Australia's leading man Andrew Hoy would knock down six fences, and although he stuttered with three failures, he finished strongly to clinch a third successive team gold with a total of 146.8 points, with Britain on 161 and the USA third with 175.8.

But it was still enough to give Stark a medal-winning send-off in his fifth and final Olympics at the age of 46, adding another silver to the pair he won in the team and individual events at Seoul in 1988.

The immediate reaction of Law, Funnell, Brakewell was one of disappointment at missing out on the gold medal but Stark insisted the silver medal was an achievement well worth celebrating.

Law said: "It's very disappointing at the moment but we'll celebrate the silver later. They (Australia) rode very well and I suppose they deserved the gold."

Funnell said: "The initial reaction is disappointment. We all felt so strongly that we could come back at them and win it."

Brakewell agreed with Law that it would take a while for it to sink in what the trio had achieved. She said: "The crowds were fantastic but it's a bit disappointing. I only had one down and we'll probably celebrate later."

Stark said of his team-mates: "They really must celebrate a silver medal. They were fantastic today. That's their first Olympics and there will be a hell of a lot more to come."

The Irish quartet of Nicola Cassidy, on Mr Mullins, Virginia McGrath, on Yellow Earl, Susan Shortt, on Joy Of My Heart and Patricia Donegan, on Don't Step Back, finished fifth with a score of 270.