John Whitaker (equestrian)

Last updated


John Whitaker
MBE
13-04-21-Horses-and-Dreams-2013-John Whitaker (13 von 14).jpg
Whitaker on Argento
Personal information
Born (1955-08-05) 5 August 1955 (age 68)
Website johnwhitakerhorses.com
Sport
Sport Equestrianism
Event Show jumping
Medal record
Equestrian
Representing Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain
Alternative Olympics
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 1980 RotterdamJumping Team
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 1980 RotterdamJumping Individual
Olympic Games
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 1984 Los Angeles Team jumping
World Championships
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg1982 DublinJumping Team
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg1986 AachenJumping Team
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 1990 Stockholm Jumping Team
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 1990 Stockholm Jumping Individual
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 1998 Rome Jumping Team
European Championships
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 1983 HicksteadJumping Team
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 1983 HicksteadJumping Individual
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1985 DinardJumping Team
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 1985 DinardJumping Individual
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1987 St GallenJumping Team
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 1987 St GallenJumping Individual
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1989 RotterdamJumping Team
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1989 RotterdamJumping Individual
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 1991 La BauleJumping Team
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 1993 GijonJumping Team
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 1995 St GallenJumping Team
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 1997 MannheimJumping Team
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2007 MannheimJumping Team
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2011 Madrid Jumping Team

John Whitaker MBE (born 5 August 1955, Huddersfield) [1] is a British equestrian and Olympian who competes in show jumping. He has won numerous international medals including an olympic silver medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles. He is the managing director of John Whitaker International Limited which produces tack and equestrian clothing. [2]

Contents

Showjumping

Whitaker has enjoyed success across four decades. He has competed at World and European Championships and five olympic teams between 1984 and 2016. [3] He has won the Hickstead Derby four times. [4]

"In this sport you lose more than you win, and you need to learn to cope with that. You have to be able to pick yourself up and come back and try another day." —John Whitaker [5]

Horses

He is best known for his partnership with the horse Milton with whom he won the Du Maunier Grand Prix at Spruce Meadows and won over £1 million in prize money before being retired in 1994. [4] [6] He won an Olympic medal in 1984 on Ryan's Son who he was given at the age of 18 and had a partnership with for 14 years. [4]

Personal life

The Whitaker family is well known for showjumping. [4] Whitaker is married to Clare Barr and has three children, including Robert Whitaker. His niece Ellen Whitaker, nephew William Whitaker as well as John's younger brother Michael Whitaker, and his son Jack Whitaker are also show jumpers. [7]

Whitaker began riding at the age of 6, taught by his mother, who ran a riding school. As children, he and his brother Michael delivered milk using a horse and cart until they were 16 and began to show jump professionally. [4]

Related Research Articles

Marius Silver Jubilee, better known as Milton, was a successful showjumping horse ridden by John Whitaker. He was a grey gelding and stood 16.2 hands high at the withers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eddie Macken</span> Irish equestrian

Eddie Macken is an Irish equestrian show jumper, who was a member of the Irish team - along with Paul Darragh, Capt. Con Power, and James Kernan – that won the Aga Khan Cup three years in a row. Other notable career highlights include a record four consecutive Hickstead Derby wins, two individual silver medals at the Show Jumping World Championships, 1974 with Pele and 1978 on Boomerang, and an individual silver medal at the 1977 European Championships with Pele. Macken has many major Grand Prix victories worldwide. Many of Macken's achievements were gained in partnership with his Irish bred gelding, Boomerang. From Macken's first rides with Boomerang as a four-year-old in 1970, the pair blazed a trail of wins that lasted a decade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellen Whitaker</span> English show jumping rider

Ellen Whitaker is an English show jumping rider, currently ranked 191 on the FEI riders Longines Ranking list in July 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Whitaker</span> British equestrian (born 1960)

Michael Whitaker is a British Olympic equestrian rider, who competes in the sport of show jumping. He was ranked 5th by the British Showjumping Association in March 2014.

Joseph "Joe" Halpin Fargis IV is an American showjumper and Olympic champion. Fargis won showjumping individual gold and team gold at the 1984 Summer Olympics. He won showjumping team silver at the 1988 Summer Olympics. He is the owner of Sandron Farm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Maher</span> British equestrian (born 1983)

Benjamin Richard Maher MBE is a British show jumper. He represented Britain at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, 2009 European Championships in Windsor, 2012 London Olympics, 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He won the team jumping gold at the London Olympics with Team GB, their first team jumping gold medal for 60 years, and an individual gold for Great Britain at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He also won bronze at the 2011 Europeans Championships in Madrid, Spain. He has won many international Grand Prix, including the Olympia Grand Prix, the King George V Gold Cup at Hickstead and an FEI World Cup Qualifier Grand Prix at Wellington with various rides.

Timothy Mark Stockdale was an English equestrian who competed in the sport of show jumping.

Marion Janice Mould is an English show-jumper. She competed for Great Britain at the 1968 Summer Olympics, winning a silver medal in the individual jumping event.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Brash</span> British show jumping rider

Scott Brash MBE is a Scottish showjumper. He began riding the horse Hello Sanctos in early 2012. They competed as part of the British Team at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London winning a gold medal in the team jumping event. In 2015 he became the first rider to win show jumping's Rolex Grand Slam, all three of the sport's most prestigious events in a single year, earning the sport's biggest individual prize of 1m Euros (£735,000).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anneli Drummond-Hay</span> Scottish show jumper (1937–2022)

Elizabeth Ann Drummond-Hay, better known as Anneli Drummond-Hay, was a British eventer and show jumper who won the 1961 Burghley Horse Trials riding her horse Merely-a-Monarch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jessica Mendoza (equestrian)</span> British female equestrian

Jessica Mendoza is one of the UK's top female equestrian athletes who broke into the World's top 100 riders, and into the top 10 British showjumping riders in Spring 2015. Jessica is also a regular contributor to the British monthly magazine PONY.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Sheret</span>

William Shaw Sheret MBE is a Scottish showjumper and trainer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big Star (horse)</span>

Big Star is a Dutch Warmblood stallion who competes in show jumping with the British rider Nick Skelton. Part of the gold medal team at the London Olympics, Big Star was elected the KWPN horse of the year and formed a partnership with Skelton in 2012. After good performances in the following year, he was temporarily taken out of competition because of a leg injury. Skelton has described the bay stallion, son of Quick Star and grandson of Nimmerdor as "the best horse he has ever ridden". Apart from his show-jumping, Big Star is a successful breeding stallion, licensed in 21 studbooks for sport horses. Some of his foals have won notable victories.

Bernie Traurig is an American equestrian known for his international success in show jumping, dressage and eventing, as well as his coaching and training career. He is the founder of Equestrian Coach, an educational website.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caroline Bradley</span> British showjumper (1946–1983)

Caroline Frances Bradley MBE was an international British show-jumper, becoming the first female winner of the Puissance at the Horse of the Year Show in 1974, an era when the sport was still largely dominated by male riders. She went on to win team gold medals in World and European championships in 1978 and 1979 respectively and had considerable individual success, winning the grand prix at Hickstead in 1980 and the Queen Elizabeth II Cup in 1978 and 1980. She died, aged 37, after collapsing at the Suffolk Show having suffered a heart attack.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pieter Devos</span> Belgian professional Equestrian

Pieter Devos is Belgian show jumping rider from Diest, Belgium. He is a regular on the Belgian team and has won team gold medals at the 2019 European Championships in Rotterdam (NEL) and 2018 FEI Nations Cup Final in Barcelona (ESP), both on Claire Z. He runs his family's fruit farm and he and his brother share Devos Stables BVBA. He married Caroline Poels in 2015 and the couple have a daughter, Lisa, born in 2017, and a son, Vic, born in 2019.

Ryan's Son (1968-1987) was a successful show jumping horse ridden by John Whitaker. He was a bay gelding and stood 16 hands. He was sired by a Thoroughbred called Ozymandias and born from an Irish Draught mare. In January 2007, Ryan's Son joined John Whitaker in being inducted into The British Horse Society Equestrian Hall of Fame.

Holly Smith is a show jumper who competes for Great Britain.

Joseph Stockdale is a British show jumper.

Jack Whitaker is a British equestrian who competes as a show jumper.

References

  1. "John Whitaker MBE" (PDF). British Showjumping. Retrieved 12 July 2011.
  2. "About John Whitaker International and JWI Staff | johnwhitakerintltd.com". johnwhitaker.com. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  3. "John Whitaker – Equestrian Showjumping – News, Olympic Results and History". www.teamgb.com. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Horse & Hound (16 April 2009). "John Whitaker, legendary British show jumper". Horse & Hound. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  5. "Meet John Whitaker". ponymag.com. 2021.
  6. "Milton: 12 fascinating facts about our hero". Horse & Hound. 12 June 2015.
  7. Smith, Sharon (2 April 2024). "Can John and Jack Whitaker make Olympic showjumping history?". Financial Times. Retrieved 5 April 2024.