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Simon Ohio Willstam MBE | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nationality | United Kingdom | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Discipline | Eventing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England | 15 November 1982|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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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]
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]
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]
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]
Results | ||||||||||
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Year | Event | Horse | Placing | Notes | ||||||
2005 | European Championships | Topping | 43rd | Individual | ||||||
2006 | World Equestrian Games | Flint Curtis | 11th | Individual | ||||||
2007 | World Young Horse Championships | Master Boy | 21st | CCI** | ||||||
2007 | European Championships | Flint Curtis | Team | |||||||
12th | Individual | |||||||||
2009 | Eventing World Cup Final | Flint Curtis | EL | |||||||
2009 | European Championships | Flint Curtis | Team | |||||||
EL | Individual | |||||||||
2014 | World Young Horse Championships | Willingapark Cooley | 9th | CCI** | ||||||
2014 | World Equestrian Games | Black Tie | RET | Individual | ||||||
2015 | World Young Horse Championships | SRS Chillout | 18th | CCI* | ||||||
Ridire Dorcha | WD | CCI** | ||||||||
2015 | European Championships | Fenyas Elegance | 17th | Individual | ||||||
2017 | European Championships | Willingapark Cooley | Team | |||||||
WD | Individual | |||||||||
2019 | European Championships | Cooley Master Class | Team | |||||||
9th | Individual | |||||||||
2019 | World Young Horse Championships | Miss Cooley | 23rd | CCI*** | ||||||
2020 | World Young Horse Championships | Cooley Rosalent | CCI** | |||||||
2021 | Olympic Games | Ballaghmor Class | Team | |||||||
5th | Individual | |||||||||
World Young Horse Championships | Cooley Rosalent | 7th | CCI*** | |||||||
2022 | World Championships | Ballaghmor Class | 4th | Team | ||||||
16th | Individual | |||||||||
EL = Eliminated; RET = Retired; WD = Withdrew |
Results | ||||||||||||
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Event | Kentucky | Badminton | Luhmühlen | Burghley | Pau | Adelaide | Maryland | Bicton | ||||
2005 | 12th (Topping) | |||||||||||
2006 | (Flint Curtis) 31st (Topping) | EL (Topping) | ||||||||||
2007 | EL (Tom Cruise II) WD (Flint Curtis) | RET (Saxon Cross) RET (Waterbeck Basil) | ||||||||||
2008 | 12th (Coup de Coeur) | RET (Flint Curtis) | RET (Clover Curtis) EL (Divine Inspiration) | |||||||||
2009 | 8th (Carousel Quest) | (Flint Curtis) | 15th (Sportsfield Sandyman) 17th (Golden Hue) WD (Jackson D'Allez) | (Carousel Quest) | 8th (Carousel Quest) | |||||||
2010 | EL (Ashdale Cruise Master) WD (Master Boy) | 5th (Ashdale Cruise Master) EL (Carousel Quest) | 4th (Carousel Quest) | 13th (Master Boy) | ||||||||
2011 | 6th (ODT Sonas Rovatio) | EL (Ashdale Cruise Master) | 7th (Master Boy) | RET (Imperial Master) EL (Neo du Breuil) | ||||||||
2012 | RET (Pepper Anne) | 7th (ODT Sonas Rovatio) 8th (Armada) | 4th (Armada) RET (ODT Sonas Rovatio) | EL (ODT Sonas Rovatio) | ||||||||
2013 | 34th (Armada) | WD (Armada) | ||||||||||
2014 | (Armada) | 4th (Black Tie) | 8th (Armada) | |||||||||
2015 | 11th (Armada) | 11th (Dromgurrihy Blue) 23rd (Armada) 32nd (Samuel Thomas II) | ||||||||||
2016 | 25th (Armada) RET (Black Tie) | RET (Dromgurrihy Blue) WD (Black Tie) | 7th (Samuel Thomas II) 23rd (Dromgurrihy Blue) RET (MHS King Joules) | |||||||||
2017 | 16th (ODT Ghareeb) 25th (Samuel Thomas II) | 18th (Black Tie) | (Ballaghmor Class) 12th (Samuel Thomas II) | |||||||||
2018 | (Cooley Master Class) 7th (MHS King Joules) | (Willingapark Cooley) 5th (Ballaghmor Class) | (Ballaghmor Class) 12th (Willingapark Cooley) WD (MHS King Joules) | EL (Cillnabradden Evo) | ||||||||
2019 | (Cooley Master Class) | (Ballaghmor Class) 6th (Cillnabradden Evo) | (Ballaghmor Class) | |||||||||
2020 | 6th (MHS King Joules) | |||||||||||
2021 | (Ballaghmor Class) | 6th (Ridire Dorcha) WD (MHS King Joules) | (Cooley Master Class) | 7th (Tregilder) EL (MHS King Joules) | ||||||||
2022 | (Swallow Springs) 5th (Ballaghmor Class) | EL (Tregilder) EL (Swallow Springs) | (As Is) | |||||||||
2023 | (Ballaghmor Class) EL (Swallow Springs) | 7th (Swallow Springs) 9th (Tregilder) 27th (Cooley Rosalent) | (Ballaghmor Class) RET (Tregilder) RET (Swallow Springs) | (Tregilder) | (Cooley Rosalent) | |||||||
2024 | (Ballaghmor Class) | |||||||||||
EL = Eliminated; RET = Retired; WD = Withdrew |
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