Richard Meade

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other people named Richard Meade, see Richard Meade (disambiguation).
Olympic medal record
Equestrian
Gold 1968 Mexico City Team Event
Gold 1972 Munich Team Event
Gold 1972 Munich Individual Event

Richard Hannay Meade, OBE (born 4 December 1936[1]) is a British equestrian expert and Olympic gold medal winning rider. He was the first British rider to have won an individual Olympic gold medal.

Biography

Early life

He was born in Chepstow, Monmouthshire, Wales. His parents were joint masters of the Curre Hounds at Itton. He was educated at Lancing College and Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he took an Engineering degree. He served in the 11th Hussars and later worked in the City of London.[2]

Equestrian career

In 1964, he won the Burghley Horse Trials on Barberry. Meade was a member of Britain's gold medal winning team in the three-day event at both the 1968 and 1972 Summer Olympics, and won the individual gold in 1972. He also competed in the 1964 and 1976 Olympics. He twice won the Badminton Horse Trials, in 1970 on The Poacher and in 1982 on Speculator III. In 1972 he was voted BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year.

Fox-hunting

In 2001, the RSPCA expelled Meade for organising a campaign to encourage supporters of fox hunting to join so as to put pressure on the society to change its policy.[3]

Personal life

On 14 September 2013, his son, James Meade, married Lady Laura Marsham, daughter of Julian Charles Marsham, 8th Earl of Romney at St Nicholas' Church in Gayton, Norfolk.[4][5] Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Prince Harry and Pippa Middleton were in attendance at the wedding.[5]

References

  1. ↑ British Olympic Association
  2. ↑ SR/Olympic Sports. Accessed 21 May 2012
  3. ↑ RSPCA expels Richard Meade - igreens.org.uk, 14 June 2001
  4. ↑ "Duke of Cambridge's best man to marry earl's daughter". Daily Telegraph. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Anna Edwards, Back to being a mother! Pippa Middleton joins Princes William and Harry at society wedding... but Kate and Prince George are nowhere to be seen, The Daily Mail, 14 September 2013
Awards
Preceded by
Wales John Dawes / Wales national rugby union team / Welsh Lions		 BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year
1972 		Succeeded by
Wales Berwyn Price
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.