Equestrian: Tait finishes career strongly at Burghley

1.00pm

Blyth Tait brought his illustrious eventing career to a close yesterday to a standing ovation from his fellow riders with eighth place on Eze at the Burghley horse trials in Lincolnshire, England.

An Olympic medallist in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics with Ready Teddy, Tait has also twice been world champion. He won first in 1990 with Messiah, and then again in 1998 with Ready Teddy. Tait is the only rider ever to have been Olympic and World Champion at the same time.

A disappointing dressage test on Friday left him off in 39th place of the 90 starters, but two clear jumping rounds pulled him up to eighth and a 5000 euro ($9530) prize cheque.

Tait had happy memories of Burghley, having won in 1998 on Chesterfield, and again in 2001 on Ready Teddy. He also said Burghley had given him one of his worst moments in sport when he broke a leg there in 1999, the same day rider Simon Long was killed.

Tait's clear jumping round on Saturday with 21.2 time faults had pulled him up to 16th place going into Sunday's showjumping. Being one of only nine competitors to jump clear left him in eighth place overall and he was delighted to finish on a good note.

"I haven't really thought too much about this being the final event as I made the decision two years ago. Now I'm focused on what's going on at home and look forward to being there in a few weeks after tidying up here in England. Traditionally Burghley was always my last event of the year so this year is no different."

- NZPA