History making Hester to compete in his seventh Olympics as passion remains strong

Friday 28 June 2024

Carl Hester will become only the second British athlete to feature at seven Olympic Games when he rides in Paris next month.

The other was Nick Skelton, another great of the equestrian scene.

Hester was part of the GB dressage team that won gold in 2012, with a postbox on his home island of Sark marking that achievement, and this time out will ride 14-year-old stallion Fame.

The 57-year-old will be the oldest member of Team GB, having made his debut in Barcelona in 1992.

“I've done seven Olympics, but I did three where I came nowhere. I thought ‘I can't keep doing it like this, I've got to find a way of upping my performances’.

“The best thing that ever happened to me, of course, was Charlotte Dujardin, because she was one of my students. That gave me so much enthusiasm, watching her win gold.”

Dujardin and Hester, alongside Charlotte Fry and Gareth Hughes, claimed that team dressage gold at London 2012.

In Rio 2016 it was a team silver, in Tokyo 2021, a team bronze.

Hester has reflected on his journey in the sport.

“From a non-horsey background, I just made my way over to live in England,” he added. “You can actually do it a different way, because a lot of people presume that you just have wealthy parents that support your sport. Not in my case, my parents never were able to fund me, so I had to start at the bottom as a groom.

“When Charlotte came to work for me, it was the same thing. She came as a working rider groom for me, and through her hard work and badgering me the whole time, she got my best horses. There's a lot of inspiration behind it for young people I think.”

Hester has a strong bond with Fame, who he rode to help Great Britain win team gold at last year's European Championships in Germany.

“He’s amazing,” he said. “If this happens to be my last Games, I am so lucky to go out on a horse like Fame.

“He's just the coolest horse. Every morning I wake up and I think, ‘I have to ride quite a lot of horses, but I can't wait to get on Fame. 

“He always makes me smile, every day he does his best. He's got no quirks, no problems. He just fights for me in the ring, which is really important.”

Dujardin on Imhotep, Fry on Glamourdale and Hester on Fame will form the dressage team. Becky Moody on Jagerbomb is reserve.