Ben Maher

The new Olympic champion has had little opportunity to bask in the golden hue of Tokyo, but he talks to Jennifer Donald about the road to victory, his “freak” of a horse and why Paris 2024 is already on the agenda

- Jennifer Donald

SINCE his medal-laden plane full of British athletes touched down from Tokyo, Ben Maher’s feet have barely hit the ground. He eschewed a welcome-home party – “that’s not really my thing” – but was celebrated along with his heroic partner Explosion W in a parade in London. He’s replied to each of the hundreds of congratulatory messages he received – and politely turned down an offer to appear on Mastermind. Then there was his beautiful wedding to long-term partner Sophie Gracida at their Hertfordshire home.

Has he even had a chance to revel in the glory that being crowned Olympic champion rightfully deserves?

“It didn’t feel real at the time but I woke up at 4am the next day and it hit me,” says Ben, who was doubling up on the gold he won as part of Great Britain’s showjumping team in London 2012. “The dream to win an individual gold medal really was the most important thing to me and we’ve come close at recent championships, winning silver twice.

“That did start to play on my mind – especially at the last one [in 2019] where I felt I didn’t finish the job. You only get so many chances at the Olympics with the right horse at the right time.”

Ben certainly found the right horse and has been the envy of the equestrian world since 2018 when he took the reins full-time on the astonishingly talented Explosion W, whom he describes as a “natural born winner” and “the best I’ll ever ride”.

Grand prix titles fell into his hands with such ease that from the outside, it seemed all but a foregone conclusion that the Olympic crown could be added to the pair’s list of global accomplishments.