Blyth Tait

Blyth Tait medal table
Eventing riding
New Zealand
Olympic games
bronze	1992	Single (with Messiah )
silver	1992	Crew (with Ready Teddy )
gold	1996	Single (with ready teddy )
bronze	1996	Crew (with Chesterfield )
World Equestrian Games
gold	1990	Single (with Messiah )
gold	1990	Crew (with messiah )
gold	1998	Single (with ready teddy )
gold	1998	Crew (with Ready Teddy )

Blyth Tait , MBE (born May 10, 1961 in Whangarei ) is a retired New Zealand eventing rider .

With four Olympic medals, four world championship titles and victories at two events in the highest category CCI **** , he was one of the most successful riders in this discipline in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Career

His father bred racehorses , so Tait became interested in horse riding from an early age. He first tried his hand at show jumping , but switched to eventing after a few years . Tait qualified for the 1986 World Cup in Gawler , but his horse died of heart failure the day before the competition began. His breakthrough to the top of the world came in 1990 when he finished second in the Badminton Horse Trials . In the same year he won the gold medal in the individual and team rankings at the World Equestrian Games in Stockholm .

At the 1992 Olympic Games , Tait won silver with the team and bronze as an individual rider. The individual result is remarkable, as he was only 69th after the first of three tests, dressage riding . Four years later he became Olympic champion in the individual classification and third with the team in Atlanta . At the World Equestrian Games in Rome in 1998 , Tait won the gold medal in both the individual and team rankings.

Tait was able to win two eventing competitions of the highest category, in 2000 the Rolex Kentucky Three Day and 2001 the Burghley Horse Trials . The Olympic Games in 2000 and 2004, however, were less successful. In Sydney , where he was the flag bearer at the opening ceremony, he had to give up on both cross-country riders, in Athens he only achieved 18th place as an individual rider and was fifth with the team.

Tait retired from the sport in 2004 in favor of his coaching activities. From 2011 he took part in international eventing again, at the 2018 World Equestrian Games he was again part of the New Zealand team together with the gelding Dassett Courage . In March 2020, Blyth Tait announced his (second) retirement from international sport. However, he still plans to take part in smaller jumping competitions.

Private

Tait is one of the few eventing riders who are open about their homosexuality .

successes

• Olympic games
  • 1992: Silver Team (on Ready Teddy ), Bronze Individual (on Messiah )
  • 1996: Bronze team (on Chesterfield ), gold singles (on Ready Teddy )

• World Equestrian Games
  • 1990: Gold singles, Gold team (both on Messiah )
  • 1998: Gold Singles, Gold Team (both on Ready Teddy )

• Other major tournaments
  • Winner Rolex Kentucky Three Day: 2000 (on Welton Envoy )
  • Winner Burghley Horse Trials: 2001 (on Ready Teddy )

Individual evidence

1. ^ Famous New Zealanders - Christchurch City Libraries
2. ↑ Olympic champion Blyth Tait ends his career again , Jana Herrmann / St. Georg, March 13, 2020
3. ↑ Equestrians Carry the Torch for Gay Olympians - gaysports.com ( Memento from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive )

Web links

• Biography of Blyth Tait - New Zealand Olympic Committee