Mark Todd (equestrian)

Mark Todd (equestrian)
Mark Todd

Mark Todd and Major Milestone at the Dairy Farm during the cross-country phase of Burghley Horse Trials 2010
Personal information
Full name Mark James Todd
Nationality  New Zealand
Discipline Eventing
Born 1 March 1956 (1956-03-01) (age 55)
Cambridge, New Zealand
Mark Todd salutes the crowd, having completed his dressage test on Gandalf during the CIC*** event at Barbury International Horse Trials.

Mark James Todd, CBE (born 1 March 1956) is a New Zealand horseman noted for his accomplishments in the discipline of eventing, voted Rider of the 20th Century by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports, (Fédération Equestre Internationale.[1]

He won gold medals at Los Angeles (1984) and Seoul (1988) Olympics, the Badminton Horse Trials[12] on four occasions, the Burghley Horse Trials[2] five times, and as a member of New Zealand’s Eventing team he won gold medals at the World Championships in 1990 and 1998 (Rome), the European Championships in 1997, plus 20 or more other international events, and numerous other international individual and team titles.

In New Zealand he has been honoured with the 1998 Supreme Halberg Award[3] as New Zealand Sportsperson of the year and inducted into The New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame.[4]

Todd and fellow equestrian Andrew Nicholson, are the first New Zealanders to have competed at six Olympic Games.

On 25 April 2011, Todd completed a fourth Badminton victory riding NZB Land Vision, becoming the oldest winner of the event.[citation needed]

Biography

Born in Cambridge, New Zealand,[5] with a deep and abiding passion for horses[6] He rode at Pony Club[7] as a youngster and competed at local shows.

Todd considered becoming a jockey but quickly grew to 6 ft 2 in which forced him into show jumping instead. In reference to his riding skills, fellow New Zealand Team member, Andrew Nicholson, is quoted as saying “Mark can ride anything – he could go cross-country on a dairy cow!”[8]

On leaving school Mark pursued a career as a farmer, gaining a Diploma of Agriculture at the Waikato Technical Institute, and working on farms while fitting in riding, competing and selling horses.[9]

In 1978 he was part of New Zealand’s first three-day eventing team to contest a world championship, at Lexington, Kentucky, U.S.A.. He was 10th after the dressage and second in the steeplechase, but then his horse, Tophunter, broke down during the cross-country stage.[9] Thereafter, Todd moved to England where he mucked out stables and obtained use of horses for event rides. At his first attempt, in 1980, he won the Badminton Horse Trials[10] riding Southern Comfort. Todd was a virtual unknown when he arrived, with fellow New Zealander Andrew Nicholson as his groom.[9]

Todd is recognized as a pioneer of three-day eventing in New Zealand. Those who followed him included Olympic medallists and world champions like Tinks Pottinger, Blyth Tait, Vaughn Jefferis, Vicky Latta, Sally Clark and Andrew Nicholson.[11] Jefferis once said: “We all owe a huge debt to Mark Todd. He was the first, and he paved the way for us".[citation needed]

Todd married Carolyn Berry in 1986. He has a daughter called Lauren who is currently attending university, and a son, James, who is still at school.[9]

Todd became a popular sportsman in his home country, and some of the horses he rode also became well-known. Most notable was Charisma,[12] the 15.2 hands (62 inches, 157 cm) Thoroughbred (with 1/16 Percheron) Todd rode when winning successive Olympic Gold Medals in 1984 and 1988. Charisma was retired to a Waikato farm after the Seoul Olympics but appeared with Todd for later public appearances including flag bearing at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland New Zealand. Charisma died aged 30 from a broken shoulder.[13]

Prior to his 'comeback' for the Beijing Olympics, Todd's last international competition was at the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics where he won an individual bronze medal. His win was somewhat clouded by a scandal, prior to final team selection, originally reported by the English Sunday Mirror newspaper. The controversy was a matter of national debate[14][15][16] and almost cost Mark his team selection.[17]

Todd retired from international competition following the 2000 Sydney Olympics and returned to live in New Zealand. He, Caroline, and their children moved to Rivermonte Farm near his home town of Cambridge[5] in Waikato to breed horses and concentrate on several business ventures, including the manufacture/retail of harness and other tack. His Thoroughbreds enjoyed racing success, including wins in the Wellington Cup and New Zealand Oaks. He remained closely involved with the administration of the eventing, acting as coach for the NZ Olympic Eventing team at Athens in 2004. He continued to compete in eventing at a local level and to support the sport in general.

Todd's autobiography, So Far So Good,[9] was published in 1998. He has had several other books published including “Charisma” (1989), “One Day Eventing”, “Mark Todd’s Cross-Country Handbook” (1995) and “Novice Eventing with Mark Todd” (1996). He has also produced a series of training videos.

On 25 January 2008 Horse & Hound announced online that Mark Todd was to make a return to Eventing eight years after he retired in Sydney. He purchased a 10-year old grey called Gandalf to campaign for selection to ride at the Beijing Olympics 2008. "He was available to be bought, so I flew up to Auckland, tried him out, had him vetted and it all happened very quickly. There wasn't a lot of planning involved, it all just happened," said 52-year-old Mark, whose comeback was sponsored by New Zealand Bloodstock.

On 19 May 2008, Todd placed sixth at a three-day equestrian event in Saumur, France. Subsequently achieving qualification and selection for the Beijing Olympics he put up one of the best performances of the NZ team, in what was only his eighth competition in eight years. The New Zealand team finished fifth, and Todd managed the second best individual performance for the team, coming in 17th overall.[18]

Following Beijing, Todd and Gandalf joined a strong field of international eventers to compete for the inaugural Express Eventing International Cup.[19] However, three refusals in the show jumping portion resulted in a poor placing.

In February 2009 Todd announced that he was making a full return to elite level eventing, basing himself in England with a team of up to 8 horses including Gandalf, his Beijing Olympics mount.[18] Todd told British magazine Horse and Hound that he would be based in Swindon with Belgian event rider Bruno Goyens de Heusch. "I plan to be (in the UK) until June, then will go back to New Zealand for a month. I will return to the UK until the end of the season and be in New Zealand for Christmas," he told H&H.

References

  • Todd, M., So far so good Mark Todd the autobiography, 1998, Hodda Moa Beckett Publishers Limited, Auckland, New Zealand.
  • Romanos, J., Our Olympic Century. 2008, Trio Books Limited, Wellington New Zealand.

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Mark Todd — may refer to: Mark Todd (politician) (born 1954), British Labour Party Member of Parliament 1997 2010 Mark Todd (equestrian) (born 1956), New Zealand Equestrian horse rider and Thoroughbred trainer Mark Todd (police officer), civilian police… …   Wikipedia

  • Mark Todd — Mark James Todd, OBE, né le 1er mars 1956 à Cambridge en Nouvelle Zélande, est un cavalier, élu meilleur cavalier du XXe siècle par la Fédération équestre internationale. Son palmarès aux Jeux olympiques inclut deux médailles d or (à… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Todd (surname) — Todd is a surname meaning Fox in Gaelic, and may refer to*Albert E. Todd, Canadian mayor *Albert M. Todd, US Representative from the state of Michigan *Alexander R. Todd, Baron Todd, Nobel laureate in chemistry *Andy Todd, English football player …   Wikipedia

  • Equestrian Sports — ▪ 2009 Introduction Thoroughbred Racing. United States.       A seemingly invincible three year old colt named Big Brown took American Thoroughbred racing by storm during the 2008 spring classic season. In the 134th Kentucky Derby on May 3, Big… …   Universalium

  • Equestrian at the 2000 Summer Olympics — The Equestrian Events at the 2000 Sydney Olympics included Dressage, Eventing, and Show Jumping. All three disciplines had both individual and team competitions.Medals Eventing Individual MedalAthleteScoreGold34Silver (AUS) / Swizzle… …   Wikipedia

  • World Equestrian Games — Die Deutsche Post AG hat am 9. Februar 2006 Zuschlagsbriefmarken Für den Sport ausgegeben. Darunter auch eine Marke, die auf die Pferdesport WM 2006 in Aachen hinweist. Hier mit Ersttagsstempel aus Berlin. Die Weltreiterspiele (World Eq …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • David O'Connor (equestrian) — Medal record Equestrian Olympic Games Gold 2000 Sydney Individual three day event Silver 1996 Atlanta Team three day event …   Wikipedia

  • Matthew Ryan (equestrian) — Medal record Matthew Ryan Equestrian Competitor for …   Wikipedia

  • New Zealand at the 1988 Summer Olympics — New Zealand at the Olympic Games Flag of New Zealand – Flag bearers …   Wikipedia

  • Nouvelle-Zélande aux Jeux olympiques — La Nouvelle Zélande a participé pour la première fois aux Jeux olympiques en 1908 et a depuis envoyé des athlètes à tous les Jeux olympiques d été. Pour leurs deux premières Olympiades, en 1908 et 1912, la Nouvelle Zélande a participé avec l… …   Wikipédia en Français

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”