KEY POINTS:
Reaching a sixth Olympic Games is well within the capabilities of New Zealand equestrian legend Mark Todd according to longtime friend and teammate Blyth Tait.
Double Olympic champion Todd stunned the eventing world yesterday by announcing an end to eight years of retirement and a desire to win a personal or team medal at the Beijing Games in August.
Tait described the decision as "brave" but said nothing was beyond the 51-year-old if his competitive fires were still burning.
"He's had time out from the sport so he's refreshed. All credit to him," said Tait.
"It's not something to be taken lightly, the decision that he's made, but he knows what's involved - the hard work that he has to do between now and then.
"If his competition results are good, then clearly he's got the experience, he's got the ability and he's proven in the past that he'd be a strong contender for the New Zealand team."
Todd, who secured gold aboard Charisma at the 1984 Los Angeles Games and then again at Seoul four years later, will return to competition on 10-year-old grey gelding Gandalf.
He will enter the horse in March's three-day event at Puhinui - an event in which Gandalf was second last year with Auckland rider Angela Lloyd.
If his progress is good, Todd will campaign in the United Kingdom from April, hoping for enough quality performances before the five-strong New Zealand Olympic eventing team is named in late June.
Todd has wound down his horse training operation of recent years since winning the Wellington Cup 12 months ago with Willy Smith.
It coincided with a shift from Waikato to Rangiora and left Tait unsurprised at Todd's return to the sport that earned him worldwide fame.
"It comes at the right time for him. He moved to the South Island and he isn't as busy as he was before," Tait, a former Olympic and world champion, said.
"He's willing to give it a go and we should be supporting him.
"For me as manager, it adds another dimension.
"We've got a shortlist at the moment of eight riders who have been campaigning well but throw Mark into the mix and it's very exciting.
"His horse has a good base of competition and, with someone of Mark's calibre, the horse could be fast-tracked towards the Olympics."
Todd is the pioneer of a golden era for New Zealand eventing.
He was victorious as a member of the New Zealand team at the world championships in 1990 and 1998, triumphed at the Badminton Horse Trials on three occasions and won the Burghley three-day trials five times.
He won team bronze at the 1996 Olympics and individual bronze in his last major competitive outing at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
The leadup to those Games was marred by allegations in a British newspaper that he was a cocaine user.
Todd was later cleared of any wrongdoing by the New Zealand Olympic Committee.
Todd said he had been mulling a comeback to the sport for the past year but the recent purchase of Gandalf had accelerated the process.
"I'm looking at this as a challenge, as a bit of fun and I'm putting absolutely no pressure on myself. If it happens, it happens and that's how I'm approaching it," he said in a statement.
"I've been riding every day since (retirement) but that's been race horses. I'm fit but I'm going to have to get particularly fit for eventing.
"Some people might see it that I'm on free ticket to get to the Olympics but that's just not going to happen.
"My performance is going to have to be as good as or better than the other team members and at this stage I'm not even qualified to go so it's a long journey in a short time."
The eight shortlisted riders are British-based Andrew Nicholson, Caroline Powell, Joe Meyer and Annabel Wigley, along with New Zealand-based foursome Matthew Grayling (Taranaki), Bryce Newman (Bulls), Emily Butcher (Christchurch) and Heelan Tompkins (Taranaki).
Nicholson, Grayling and Tompkins were members of the New Zealand team who finished fifth at the Athens Olympics in 2004.
Meyer and Powell joined Nicholson and Tompkins in the team who finished sixth at the world equestrian games in Aachen, Germany, in 2006.
- NZPA
