Mark Todd

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Mark Todd

Sir Mark James Todd , KNZM , CBE , (born March 1, 1956 in Cambridge , Waikato ) is a retired New Zealand eventing rider and horse breeder . With two Olympic victories, two world championship titles, four other Olympic medals and eight victories in competitions in the highest category CCI **** , he is one of the most successful riders in this discipline. He was voted "Rider of the 20th Century" by the World Equestrian Federation FEI .

Career

In 1978 Todd graduated from the Waikato Technical Institute with a degree in agronomy . In the same year he was part of the first New Zealand eventing team in Lexington to ever take part in world championships. As a relatively unknown rider, he surprisingly won the Badminton Horse Trials in 1980 . Todd could not take part in the Olympic Games in Moscow because they were boycotted by New Zealand.

At the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles , Todd was Olympic champion in the individual ranking. He repeated this success four years later in Seoul ; he also won the bronze medal in the team competition and also took part in show jumping , where he reached 26th place. He was also successful at the 1990 World Equestrian Games in Stockholm by winning the team gold medal.

In 1992 in Barcelona Todd was able to win another medal with the team, the silver one. Because his horse was injured, he was unable to participate in Atlanta in 1996 . In contrast, he became world champion with the team for the second time at the World Equestrian Games in Rome in 1998 and won the silver medal in the individual standings.

Todd was able to win a total of eight events in the highest category, five times the Burghley Horse Trials (1987, 1990, 1991, 1997, 1999) and after 1980 the Badminton Horse Trials three more times (1994, 1996, 2011). He completed his successful career at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney by winning the team bronze medal. He then withdrew from top-class sport and devoted himself mainly to his stud near his hometown Cambridge, where he mainly breeds racehorses. In 2004 he was the trainer of the New Zealand Olympic riding team.

After a break of more than seven years, Todd announced in January 2008 that he wanted to return to active competitive sports. He managed to qualify for the Hong Kong riding competitions of the 2008 Olympic Games, where he finished 18th in the individual and 5th in the team.

In February 2009 he announced that he would remain in England and play the sport with the aim of the 2010 World Equestrian Games in Kentucky. In these he won with Grass Valley as part of the New Zealand team team bronze .

At the 2012 Olympic Games in London, he and the team won the bronze medal in the eventing competition. He also took part in the 2014 World Equestrian Games , but retired with Leonidas II in the field. At his seventh Olympic Games, in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro , he was again at the start with Campino . After an almost flawless cross-country performance (two minus points for exceeding the time), Todd was in a promising position in the individual and team classification. The team competition was not very happy, however, with a score of 16 penalty points, he missed the chance for the team gold medal (New Zealand fell back to fourth place). His chance for an individual medal was wasted, with a faultless ride in the individual jumping he reached seventh place in the final result.

At the 2018 World Equestrian Games , Todd was part of a New Zealand team at an international championship for the last time. In July 2019 he and his gelding Leonidas II were a member of the New Zealand team that won the Irish Nations Cup. In the course of this event, Mark Todd announced his (second) end of his career as an active rider.

successes

Military / eventing riding

Mark Todd with Major Milestone at the 2010 Burghley Horse Trials
  • World Equestrian Games :
    • 1990, Stockholm: Gold team, 5th place in individual (on Bahlua )
    • 1994, The Hague: 6th place team, 47th place in individual (on Just an Ace )
    • 1998, Rome: Gold Team, Silver Singles (on Broadcast News )
    • 2010, Lexington KY : Bronze Team, 11th place in individual (on Grass Valley )
    • 2014, Haras du Pin / Caen : 14th place with the team (on Leonidas II )
  • European Championships (open):
    • 1997: Gold Singles (on Broadcast News )
  • Other major tournaments:
    • Badminton Horse Trials winner: 1980 on Southern Comfort III , 1994 on Horton Point , 1996 on Bertie Blunt , 2011 on Land Vision
    • Winner Burghley Horse Trials: 1987 on Wilton Fair , 1990 on Face the Music , 1991 on Welton Greylag , 1997 on Broadcast News , 1999 on Diamond Hall Red

Show jumping

  • Olympic games:
    • 1988: 12th place team, 26th place in individual (on Bago )
    • 1992: 15th place team, 34th place in individual (on double take )

title

In 1984 he was awarded the title of Member of the British Empire and was named Commander of the British Empire eleven years later. With the New Year Honors List 2013 he was awarded the title Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit .

Web links

Commons : Mark Todd  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Mark Todd in bid for Beijing Olympics , horsetalk.co.nz, January 23, 2008
  2. ^ Mark Todd announces full return to eventing , horsetalk.co.nz, February 24, 2009
  3. ^ Camphire Int. Horse Trails 2019, Nations Cup result (PDF)
  4. ↑ Todd Calls Time on Incredible Eventing Career , nzequestrian.org.nz, July 29, 2019
  5. ↑ Biography / most important achievements of Mark Todd on the FEI website
  6. ↑ Self Portrait by Mark Todd ( Memento of December 25, 2012 at the Internet Archive )
  7. ^ New Year Honors List 2013 ( Memento from January 1, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
personal data
SURNAME Todd, Mark
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Todd, Mark James (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION New Zealand eventing rider and horse breeder
DATE OF BIRTH March 1, 1956
PLACE OF BIRTH Cambridge , Waikato