How many of your favourite top riders have also competed as one of the oldest Olympic athletes or medallists?
It’s widely known that horses have an addictive quality – once they get under your skin, you’re typically involved with them for life. This, combined with the fact riding successfully at top level is more about skill and experience than it is pure physicality, might explain why we see more riders representing their countries on the world’s greatest sporting stage – the Olympics – into their older years than in other sports. The over-50s age group is well represented in horse sport, which is testament to the fact that having decades in the saddle can give an equestrian athlete the edge in competition.
Horse sport at the Games is populated by some of the oldest Olympic athletes and often features the Games’ oldest competitor. At Paris 2024 it was 65-year-old Spanish dressage rider Juan Antonio Jimenez Cobo. Often, the oldest medallist is an athlete from an equestrian discipline too. Riding at ones best is all about experience, composure and honing your skills – and the Olympic Games is where it all counts.
Oldest Olympic athletes: equestrian appearances and medals
In arguably one of the most iconic moments in British showjumping history, Nick Skelton and Big Star triumphed in a six-rider jump-off to take individual gold at Rio 2016 – and in doing so, became the oldest Olympic medallist of the Games at 58. It was the second Olympic medal for Nick, who also won team gold at London 2012.
Eight years after her partner, Nick, and at the same age of 58, showjumper Laura Kraut became the oldest Olympic medallist at the Paris 2024 Games. Alongside teammates Karl Cook and McClain Ward, Laura took home team silver for the US. She adds the silver to her trophy cabinet alongside her Tokyo 2020 team silver and Beijing 2008 team gold.
The beloved Aussie eventer is no stranger to Olympic appearances – he’s competed at eight Games for his home nation. At 62, he was the oldest medallist at the Tokyo 2020 Games (held in 2021 owing to the pandemic). Andrew Hoy even made it a double, clinching individual bronze and team silver in the eventing with Vassily de Lassos. He has a total of six Olympic medals to his name.
4. Mary Hanna, Tokyo 2020
The dressage rider, who turns 70 this year, travelled to Paris 2024 as the Australian team alternate. In her last team appearance at the Olympics, she was the oldest competitor of the Games aged 66. The six-time Olympian has never won a medal and, inspired by the atmosphere in Paris this year, plans to keep campaigning.
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4. Lorna Johnstone, Munich 1972
The dressage rider turned 70 three days before competing at the Munich Games in 1972. She finished 12th individually on ex-steeplechaser El Farucco, who she bought at Ascot Sales as a five-year-old. She was crowned British national champion 13 times over her career and competed in dressage until after her 80th birthday.
5. Hiroshi Hoketsu, London 2012
The Japanese dressage rider was the oldest competitor at not only the Beijing Games, where he competed aged 65, but also in London in 2012 aged 71. Hiroshi, who trained in Germany, does not see age as a barrier to competing. At London, he commented: “I don’t know how you’re supposed to feel at 71. I’m the same physique as I was at university. There’s no special secret. I get up at 7am. I used to get up at 5am, go riding, go home and then leave for the office for 30 years when I was working. Now I can sleep until 7am – luxury.”
6. Arthur von Pongracz, Berlin 1936
At 72 years and 49 days old when he competed in the dressage competition, Austria’s Arthur von Pongracz is the oldest all-time Olympic equestrian. He loses out on the oldest Olympian title by a couple of hundred days to Oscar Swahn, a Swedish shooter who competed in Antwerp 1920.
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A horse owner and rider with more than 20 years experience, Bethany has been writing for equestrian publications since 2017. Over the course of her career, she has reported from major British Riding Clubs and British Dressage championships, covered Badminton Horse Trials and interviewed equestrian sport’s best athletes. Her work can also be found in Country Life, The Field and Breathe magazine.
