McLain Ward
Ward riding at the 2008 Summer Olympics
|
|
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born |
October 17, 1975 (age 41) Brewster, New York, U.S. |
|
Medal record
|
|
McLain Ward (born October 17, 1975 in Brewster, New York) is an American show jumping competitor and Olympic medal winner.
At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Ward won the gold medal as part of the United States team in Team jumping, together with Peter Wylde, Beezie Madden, and Chris Kappler. He continued to compete as an Olympian, winning the team gold for show jumping at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics aboard Sapphire along with Laura Kraut (Cedric), Beezie Madden (Authentic), and Will Simpson (Carlson vom Dach).
When Ward was 14, he won the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) Show Jumping Derby as well as the equitation medal finals, becoming the youngest rider in history to win both in one year, though George H. Morris had won the medal and the Maclay at age 14. McLain rode with a broken collarbone in the 2005 Samsung Super League when the United States team won the Championship.
Ward found himself at the center of controversy at the 2010 World Cup Final in Geneva, Switzerland. His mount, Sapphire, was eliminated after the second round of jumping due to hypersensitivity in her left forelimb. Sapphire was second in both rounds prior to elimination, and was at the top of the overall standings at the time of the disqualification. McLain challenged the ruling to the FEI. In July 2010, the FEI and McLain Ward agreed, to avoid extensive litigation, that Sapphire was incorrectly eliminated. However, Sapphire’s disqualification from the final round of the World Cup remained in place. The FEI also decided to develop mandatory guidelines for hypersensitivity tests.
...
Wikipedia