History makers: Tom McEwen, Laura Collett and Oliver Townend celebrate Britain's first Olympic eventing team gold medal for a half century in Toyko last year
REAT BRITAIN are the triple champions in eventing, holding Olympic, world and European T team gold medals, plus two out of three individual titles. There aren't too many sports one can say that about and it's taken 50 years, since the late Richard Meade spearheaded this country's double gold at the Munich Olympic Games, that British eventing has been able to make those claims.
Badminton Horse Trials was founded in 1949 precisely to give British riders the edge, the idea being that the cross-country there (and at Burghley, founded in 1961) would be more difficult than anything they would find at an Olympics. This is certainly true of the 21st century, with the downgrading of the cross-country phase at championships to four-star level (Badminton is one of seven events worldwide run at the highest, five-star level).
Badminton has long been an international affair, with about a dozen nations represented most years (there have only been three British winners since 2006), but there is no doubt that experience of serious, homegrown competition at five-star level has stood British riders in good stead over the decades—nine of the current top 20 in the world rankings are from here. Most have rides at Badminton and, with the big German names absent and a couple of notable retirements from the sport, expectations are that the magnificent new silver trophy sculpted by Judy Boyt (Town & Country, April 27) will remain here, which would have quietly pleased Badminton's sporting founder, the 10th Duke of Beaufort.
The champions will return: Piggy March and Vanir Kamira en route to Badminton glory in 2019
Best of British
Oliver Townend
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