With eventing already done and dusted, showjumping fans will be looking forward to the showjumping at Greenwich Park, which kicks off on Saturday (4 August).

Fifty-year famine

There are 26 nations taking part, with a total of 75 riders, and based on current form the competition really is wide open.

Riding on home soil the Brits will be more determined than ever to get in the medals, but a team gold has eluded us since 1952 in Helsinki. Scott Brash, Peter Charles, Ben Maher and Nick Skelton will be hoping to end the 50-year famine.

Nick Stelton, who has been to six previous Olympics but is yet to win a medal, has been on top form. He won the Chantilly Grand Prix with Carlo on 22 July, and is a real contender for an individual medal. Can he break his curse?

Ben Maher has also been having a great year and is another rider tipped as a medal-winner. However, the team hasn’t been performing so well in the Nations Cup and only moved up from sixth place to third at Hickstead last month when they came fourth.

Proven Olympic record

Germany is currently at the top of the FEI Nations Cup leaderboard, and has a proven track record at the Olympics. It is the only country to win three successive golds and also holds the individual record, with five gold medals to their credit.

France is in second place in the Nations Cup, despite problems early on the competition. According to their Chef d’Equipe Henk Nooren, they are finding form at just the right time, and Penelope Leprevost and 2009 individual European champion Kevin Staut are also contenders for individual Olympic honours.

The Netherlands team is another nation to be reckoned with. Gerco Schroder won silver at last year’s FEI European Championship on his appropriately named horse, London. He nearly took gold, but was pipped to the post by Sweden’s Rolf-Goran Bengtsson who has been world number one in the Rolex Rankings since the start of the year.

The Swedish team won the fifth round of the Nations Cup on home turf last month. It was Jens Fredricson who clinched it for them in the jump-off with his Olympic ride Lunatic, putting him in a great frame of mind for this weekend's competition.

Making their mark

Making a trip across the Atlantic is the American team, which has two double-gold medal winners in the guise of Beezie Madden and McLain. The pair also won team gold at the 2011 Pan American Games and Madden won individual bronze at Beijing.

There are also a number of new nations making their mark in showjumping. The Ukraine is currently leading the FEI Nations Cup Promotional League, while Saudi Arabian rider Abdullah Al Sharbatly won individual silver at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in 2010. Al Sharbatly also won the Accumulator at the Royal International Horse Show at Hickstead last month.

Let the games commence

The first competition on Saturday is a qualifier for the individual competition and also decides the starting order for the team event. It comprises one-round, not against the clock, and the scores of the best three riders from each team are added together.

The team competition will follow on 5-6 August, which also incorporates the second and third individual qualifying competitions. The teams start with a score of zero and they must all jump twice. Once again, the best three scores from each team are added together. If there are an equal number of faults for the medals, there will be a jump-off against the clock with all team members competing.

The individual final takes place on 8 August. The top 35 riders from the previous rounds will qualify, and no more than three from each nation are permitted to take part. All riders start on a zero score and the top 20 go through to the second round, where they will compete in reverse order based on their penalties from the first round. If there is a jump-off, the starting order remains the same as it was in the second round.