Former Olympic and world champion Isabell Werth believes Great Britain's resurgent dressage team are worthy London 2012 gold medal favourites.
Britain have never finished among the podium places in Olympic dressage history, but Werth - who is part of a crack German squad - knows that could easily change at Greenwich Park this summer.
Germany and Holland have dominated Olympic dressage for many years, but Britain will arrive in London as reigning European team champions thanks to the combined excellence of world ranked top five riders Carl Hester, Laura Bechtolsheimer and Charlotte Dujardin.
And the highly-experienced Richard Davison did his chances of securing the fourth British place for London no harm with an impressive fifth-place finish in Friday's Reem Acra FEI World Cup grand prix final at the the Brabanthallen in s-Hertogenbosch.
"Twenty years ago, we were praying to get more combinations and more nations, and now we have more competition in the sport," said Werth, who took Olympic gold in Barcelona. "It's good for the sport, the media and the spectators, although it's not always good for the Germans!
"But we were fighting for it on one side of the coin, so now we have to deal with it.
"Each country and each rider is pushing each other, which makes it exciting. We have two or three teams that can win the gold medal in London, and Britain are the favourites.
"There is a lot of pressure on them. If they can take that, then great, but it is not done already. London is the biggest goal we all have.
"You want to be part of the team, part of the Olympic Games. It will be a very special atmosphere in London."