Equestrian contests reached Olympia later than the athletic events: for almost a hundred years the Games managed without horses. The four-horse chariot race, the tethrippon, entered the programme in 680 BC, and the ridden horse race followed in 648 BC.

At the 2004 Games modern equestrian sport was based at the Markopoulo Olympic Equestrian Centre in Attica. The individual show jumping there had an unexpected sequel: Ireland's Cian O'Connor finished first, but his horse failed a drug test, and the gold passed to Rodrigo Pessoa of Brazil.

The coin shows two riders, one modern and one ancient, representing the same discipline millennia apart. This silver €10 piece from the Bank of Greece Olympic programme was struck to proof standard, its frosted horses and riders set off against a mirror field.