Burton, who won team bronze in Rio eight years ago, rode to an unexpected individual eventing silver at Chateau de Versailles, the home of French kings from the time of Louis XIV to Louis XVI.

The 42-year-old Queenslander had ditched his show jumping speciality for another shot at eventing this year.

And it paid off handsomely as he expressed his disbelief at steering new partner Shadow Man to second place.

German great Michael Jung took gold on 21.80 penalty points — 0.60 clear of Burton. Laura Collett, who’d earlier led Britain to the team title, finished third on 23.10.

Remarkably, Burton and Shadow Man only had their first competition in March.

Previous owner and rider Ben Hobday — believing he had no chance of making the Olympics himself — loaned the horse for six months to his pal in a rare display of equestrian ‘Ashes’ co-operation.

Toowoomba’s Burton, now based in the UK, was third overnight after the dressage and cross country.

But he moved into the silver position after Monday morning’s show jumping qualifying round when they had a clear round fractionally outside the time limit.

Then on a blazingly hot afternoon against the majestic backdrop of the Chateau, the fledgling combination cleared all 12 fences in the finale.

It put Burton in sight of Australia’s first individual eventing triumph since Matt Ryan on Kibah Tic Toc in Barcelona 1992, as he knew 41-year-old German great Jung, on Chipmunk FRH, was under the ultimate pressure.

“I’m not gonna lie. I thought we had him there for a second,” smiled Burton, saluting the four-time champion Jung, who became the first man to win three individual eventing golds.

“But I just gave a cheeky interview on German television. I said ‘Mickey, I’ve hated you for so long, but you’re the greatest of all-time, mate’. He’s amazing. So there’s no shame in coming second behind that bloke.

“Watching his round, it’s a funny thing. The Germans call it schadenfreude, it’s a lovely term. You sort of want to watch, but then you want to enjoy the moment – and it’s a little bit tearing … I honestly can’t believe it.”

The loan idea was first discussed in January, with Burton admitting wife Bek wasn’t happy about a return to the treacherous eventing world.

“Bear in mind, I had a wife very cross with me for putting her through all of this. I joke about that, but she’s been amazing. She made it happen,” explained Burton, who reckoned Bek had assembled the whirlwind, global program that enabled him to qualify.

As for Shadow Man? “An amazing horse to ride. Isn’t he a machine? Isn’t he a delight? He just springs off the ground, he’s got scope and he’s got care and he’s a pleasure,” beamed Burton.

“I spotted him years ago. I always knew he was that good. We just tried twice to buy him and Ben was too much in love with him to sell him — and I can understand it.”

Garside rocked by boxing loss

A distraught Harry Garside has been unable to turn bronze into gold with the Australian boxer bowing out in his first fight at the Paris Olympics.

The pain was all over Garside’s face – but not from any blows inflicted by his Hungarian opponent, who served up a shock opening defeat to the Australian boxing star in Paris.

Seeking to become the first Australian to win an Olympic boxing gold medal following his breakthrough lightweight bronze in Toyko, a shattered Garside had to cut short his media interview after breaking down.

After a first-round bye, the 27-year-old Victorian fell to Richard Kovacs by unanimous decision on Monday in their round of 16 clash, with Garside saying he’d let the country down.

But the news was better for giant teammate Teremoana Teremoana, who got a knock-out in the first round of his super heavyweight round of 16 meeting with Ukrainian Dmytro Lovchynski.

“I wasn’t planning to go for the knock-out, the plan was to go out there and box but I was landing a few clean punches and he was feeling it and went down every time he got caught,” 26-year-old Teremoana said.

He became the first Australian to win an Olympic fight in that division, and will next face Uzbekistan’s defending champion Bakhodir Jalolov.

It was a bright moment on an otherwise devastating day for the boxing contingent.

Garside was inconsolable about his loss.

“As an athlete you put a lot of expectation on yourself and for the run to be over just like that, I feel like a failure right now,” Garside said.

“I really envisioned winning that gold medal for Australia, I really thought I could do it.”

Garside started brightly, bouncing around the ring as he showed off his trademark footwork, winning the opening round 3-2.

But the awkward Hungarian, a five-time national champion, tried to antagonise the Australian, coming forward with his hands down and his tongue out.

He got the better of Garside in the second round, with the judges scoring it 5-0.

The fifth seed in the 63.5kg division, Garside needed to find something special in the third round but again fell short.

“He made the adaptions that he needed to in that second round and that showboating really was on his side as well but that’s not in my nature,” said the fan favourite, who cut short his fledgling professional career after three fights to chase gold.

With his voice faltering, the deep-thinking Garside said he felt he’d been “too nice” to himself leading into the Games and feared what lay ahead in terms of his mental state.

“It sounds so crazy but over the last four years I’ve become my own friend,” Garside said.

“Before the last Olympics, I hated myself, and it got results (bronze at Tokyo 2020).

“I have a better relationship with myself but I think I was being too nice to myself. I’ve got to reflect on that and see what’s next.

“Whatever happens but I know the next few months will be a pretty hard time, I’m sure I’ll have some dark moments, I’m f*****g terrified.”

Garside later posted on social media that while he was disappointed not to achieve his goal he was going to be able to move past the defeat.

Earlier at North Paris Arena, Tyla McDonald made a similar early exit from the women’s 60kg division, losing by unanimous decision to Ecuador’s Maria Jose Espinoza Palacios.

The Victorian 21-year-old, making her Olympic debut, said she struggled to overcome nerves as well as the relentless jabs from her rangy rival.

– with AAP