Derek Allhusen

Derek Allhusen medal table
horse riding
United Kingdom
Olympic games
gold	1968	Horse riding (eventing team)
silver	1968	Riding (eventing individual)

Derek Swithin Allhusen (born January 9, 1914 in Chelsea , Great Britain , † April 24, 2000 in Norwich ) was an English rider and horse breeder. He took part in the Winter and Summer Olympics and won gold and silver medals at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico.

Derek Allhusen was born in London , attended school in Eton and Le Rosey , studied at Trinity College , Cambridge and graduated with an Honors degree in history. He then joined the army, but left it to marry "The Honorable" Claudia Betterton on April 28, 1937. He returned to his regiment in 1938 and fought as a cavalryman in the 9th Queen's Royal Lancers in France, Italy and North Africa during World War II and was awarded the Silver Star in 1944. He left the army in 1949, most recently holding the rank of major .

Returning from the war, he brought two horses with him from Germany and settled in Claxton , Norfolk , where he began breeding horses. He was able to qualify with one of the horses, Laura , for the winter pentathlon at the 1948 Olympic Games in St. Moritz , where he finished sixth, with his best individual result in the riding course. In the summer he began training for modern pentathlon and got to know military riding (today: eventing ). But only a few years after leaving the army did he manage to take part in European championships with Laurien , Laura's daughter . In 1957 he won gold in the team, in 1959 bronze in the individual and silver with the team. In 1961 he bought the brown Irish Lochinvar , with whom he became team European champion in 1967 and 1969 and at the age of 54 the greatest success of his career was the Olympic victory in the team - together with Richard Meade , Mary Bullen and Sgt. Reuben Jones - and silver in the Could celebrate singles at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico . He was supposed to receive the order MBE on behalf of the team , but refused it because his teammates should not be honored with him.

After retiring from active sport, he was able to record further successes as a breeder . His wife Claudia, who was active as a dressage rider and judge, supported him in training the horses. Thus Lauriens son Laurieston at the 1972 Olympics in Munich under Richard Meade double Olympic champion . Allhusen was awarded the Royal Victorian Order in 1984. He was also President of the British Horse Society from 1986 to 1988. Allhusen died at the age of 86 in Norwich, Norfolk.

Web links

• Derek Swithin Allhusen at the British Olympic Association (English)
• Derek Allhusen in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hon. Claudia Violet Betterton on thepeerage.com , accessed September 14, 2016.
2. ↑ Hon. Claudia Violet Allhusen (née Betterton), Daughter of 1st and last Baron Rushcliffe ( English ) National Portrait Gallery, St Martin's Place, London. Archived from the original on September 11, 2008. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 4, 2009. 
3. ↑ RÉSULTATS ET TABLEAU D'HONNEUR des V ^es Jeux olympiques d'hiver à Saint-Moritz 1948 ( French , PDF; 241 kB) In: Buletin du Comité International Olympique No. 9 March 1948 . Comité International Olympique. Pp. 17-23, March 28, 1948. Retrieved November 4, 2009.
4. ↑ ^{a b} Muriel Faienza: FEI News: In Memoriam. In: HorseQuest.com. 2000, archived from the original on September 21, 2010 ; accessed on June 11, 2014 .