Oliver Townend

Last updated

Simon Ohio Willstam
MBE
Oliver Townend - Cooley Master Class - 1 - Gelande EM Vielseitigkeit 2019.JPG
Oliver Townend and Cooley Master Class, 2019 European Eventing Championship
Personal information
NationalityFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
Discipline Eventing
Born (1982-11-15) 15 November 1982 (age 41)
Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England
Medal record
Equestrian
Representing Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain
Olympic Games
Olympic rings.svg
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2020 Tokyo Team eventing
European Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2007 Pratoni del Vivaro Team Eventing
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2009 Fontainebleau Team Eventing
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2017 Strzegom Team Eventing
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2019 Luhmühlen Team eventing

Oliver David Townend MBE (born 15 November 1982) is a British eventing rider who competes at the international three-day level. He has won team gold medals at the European Eventing Championships in 2007, 2009, and 2017. [1] Townend has also won at prestigious events such as the Badminton Horse Trials, Burghley Horse Trials, and the Kentucky Three-Day Event. [2]

Contents

In addition to his championship titles, he represented Great Britain at the World Equestrian Games in 2006 and 2014. [3] [4] He was the Event Rider Masters series champion in 2016 [3] and has held the title of world number one in eventing twice: first in 2009 and again in 2018. [5] Since 2009, he has also been ranked as the British number one eventing rider on seven occasions. [6]

Biography

Winner of the 2008 World Cup leg of Chatsworth: Oliver Townend on Flint Curtis 310 Oliver Townend on Flint Curtis.jpg
Winner of the 2008 World Cup leg of Chatsworth: Oliver Townend on Flint Curtis

Townend grew up in Scapegoat Hill, a small town on the moors near Huddersfield in West Yorkshire. [7] He won the junior newcomers showjumping at the Horse of the Year Show with Cool Mule aged 11, [8] rode in the pony European Eventing Championships aged 13 [1] and left school at 16 to pursue riding and selling horses professionally. Townend attributes his love of horses to his parents. [9] His father was also an event rider and his mother showed side-saddle. [9]

In 2010, Townend suffered a rotational fall while participating in the Rolex Kentucky Three Day in Lexington, Kentucky and was crushed by his horse. He broke his collarbone, shoulder bones, sternum along with four ribs, but credited the air bag vest with allowing him to leave the hospital after only one day. He stated that without the vest, he "would be in a box or in America for a month". [10]

Townend presently lives at Ellesmere, Shropshire. [11]

Townend was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to equestrianism. [12] [13]

Whip use

Townend has received several cautions or warnings during his career for excessive use of the whip during competitions and has been pulled up for riding excessively tired horses. He received a verbal warning at Badminton in 2014 for "abuse of the horse" and a verbal warning for "abuse of the horse/inappropriate use of the whip" at Floors Castle in 2017. [14] In 2018, Townend received an official warning for “abuse of horse/excessive use of the whip” while riding at the Badminton Horse Trials in an event that was widely televised. [15] After the incident, he lost two sponsors, [16] and Townend later apologized. Later in 2018, he was once again warned for excessive use of the whip at the Blair Castle International Horse Trials. [17] In 2022, he received an oral warning for abuse of horse/excessive use of the whip at an indoor eventing competition in Stockholm. [18]

In 2023, the FEI disciplined Townend for dangerous riding at Badminton. [19]

International championship results

Results
YearEventHorsePlacingNotes
2005 European Championships Topping43rdIndividual
2006World Equestrian GamesFlint Curtis11thIndividual
2007World Young Horse ChampionshipsMaster Boy21stCCI**
2007European ChampionshipsFlint CurtisGold medal icon.svgTeam
12thIndividual
2009Eventing World Cup FinalFlint CurtisEL
2009European ChampionshipsFlint CurtisGold medal icon.svgTeam
ELIndividual
2014World Young Horse ChampionshipsWillingapark Cooley9thCCI**
2014World Equestrian GamesBlack TieRETIndividual
2015World Young Horse ChampionshipsSRS Chillout18thCCI*
Ridire DorchaWDCCI**
2015European ChampionshipsFenyas Elegance17thIndividual
2017European ChampionshipsWillingapark CooleyGold medal icon.svgTeam
WDIndividual
2019European ChampionshipsCooley Master ClassSilver medal icon.svgTeam
9thIndividual
2019World Young Horse ChampionshipsMiss Cooley23rdCCI***
2020World Young Horse ChampionshipsCooley RosalentSilver medal icon.svgCCI**
2021Olympic GamesBallaghmor ClassGold medal icon.svgTeam
5thIndividual
World Young Horse ChampionshipsCooley Rosalent7thCCI***
2022World ChampionshipsBallaghmor Class4thTeam
16thIndividual
EL = Eliminated; RET = Retired; WD = Withdrew

CCI 5* results

Results
Event Kentucky Badminton Luhmühlen Burghley Pau Adelaide Maryland Bicton
200512th (Topping)
2006Bronze medal icon.svg (Flint Curtis)

31st (Topping)

EL (Topping)
2007EL (Tom Cruise II)

WD (Flint Curtis)

RET (Saxon Cross)

RET (Waterbeck Basil)

200812th (Coup de Coeur)RET (Flint Curtis)RET (Clover Curtis)

EL (Divine Inspiration)

20098th (Carousel Quest)Gold medal icon.svg (Flint Curtis)15th (Sportsfield Sandyman)

17th (Golden Hue)

WD (Jackson D'Allez)

Gold medal icon.svg (Carousel Quest)8th (Carousel Quest)
2010EL (Ashdale Cruise Master)

WD (Master Boy)

5th (Ashdale Cruise Master)

EL (Carousel Quest)

4th (Carousel Quest)13th (Master Boy)
20116th (ODT Sonas Rovatio)EL (Ashdale Cruise Master)7th (Master Boy)RET (Imperial Master)

EL (Neo du Breuil)

2012RET (Pepper Anne)7th (ODT Sonas Rovatio)

8th (Armada)

4th (Armada)

RET (ODT Sonas Rovatio)

EL (ODT Sonas Rovatio)
201334th (Armada)WD (Armada)
2014Silver medal icon.svg (Armada)4th (Black Tie)8th (Armada)
201511th (Armada)11th (Dromgurrihy Blue)

23rd (Armada)

32nd (Samuel Thomas II)

201625th (Armada)

RET (Black Tie)

RET (Dromgurrihy Blue)

WD (Black Tie)

7th (Samuel Thomas II)

23rd (Dromgurrihy Blue)

RET (MHS King Joules)

201716th (ODT Ghareeb)

25th (Samuel Thomas II)

18th (Black Tie)Gold medal icon.svg (Ballaghmor Class)

12th (Samuel Thomas II)

2018Gold medal icon.svg (Cooley Master Class)

7th (MHS King Joules)

Silver medal icon.svg (Willingapark Cooley)

5th (Ballaghmor Class)

Silver medal icon.svg (Ballaghmor Class)

12th (Willingapark Cooley)

WD (MHS King Joules)

EL (Cillnabradden Evo)
2019Gold medal icon.svg (Cooley Master Class)Silver medal icon.svg (Ballaghmor Class)

6th (Cillnabradden Evo)

Bronze medal icon.svg (Ballaghmor Class)
20206th (MHS King Joules)
2021Gold medal icon.svg (Ballaghmor Class)6th (Ridire Dorcha)

WD (MHS King Joules)

Silver medal icon.svg (Cooley Master Class)7th (Tregilder)

EL (MHS King Joules)

2022Bronze medal icon.svg (Swallow Springs)

5th (Ballaghmor Class)

EL (Tregilder)

EL (Swallow Springs)

Bronze medal icon.svg (As Is)
2023Silver medal icon.svg (Ballaghmor Class)

EL (Swallow Springs)

7th (Swallow Springs)

9th (Tregilder) 27th (Cooley Rosalent)

Gold medal icon.svg (Ballaghmor Class)

RET (Tregilder) RET (Swallow Springs)

Silver medal icon.svg (Tregilder)Bronze medal icon.svg (Cooley Rosalent)
2024Gold medal icon.svg (Ballaghmor Class)
EL = Eliminated; RET = Retired; WD = Withdrew

Notable horses

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References

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  4. "WEG cross-country: what happened where?". Horse and Country.
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  6. "Townend enjoying 'best days' and door still open for Team GB". Yorkshire Post.
  7. Chadband, Ian (18 April 2010). "From 'Hillbilly' to the peaks of perfection" (PDF). The Sunday Telegraph .
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  12. "No. 63571". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 2022. p. N25.
  13. "New Year Honours 2022: Jason Kenny receives a knighthood and Laura Kenny made a dame". BBC Sport. 31 December 2021.
  14. "Oliver Townend Apologizes for Badminton Whip Controversy". Horse Sport. 7 May 2018. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  15. Cuckson, Pippa (7 May 2018). "'It didn't look good': Oliver Townend apologises again for whip misuse at Badminton Horse Trials". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  16. "Sponsors drop world number one Townend after Badminton whipping scandal". www.insidethegames.biz. 15 May 2018. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  17. "Oliver Townend given warning for whip use at Blair". Horse & Hound. 3 September 2018. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  18. Berendt, Tilly. "Oliver Townend Given Recorded Warning by FEI Following Badminton Elimination - Eventing Nation - Three-Day Eventing News, Results, Videos, and Commentary". eventingnation.com. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
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