Equestrian: Tait has firm eye on London Olympics

Former champion Blyth Tait wanted a challenge and a bit of fun. Photo / Northern Advocate

The question for former world and Olympic eventing champion Blyth Tait was not so much why, but why not return to have a crack at the London Olympic Games?

Tait, 49, is among six riders jostling for five places at next year's Games, after deciding the time and occasion were right to get back in the saddle.

He joins his former Olympic and world medal-winning compatriots Andrew Nicholson and Mark Todd - he's the same age as Nicholson and six years younger than the seemingly ageless Todd - in trying to secure spots after retiring following the 2004 Games in Athens.

Tait has been breeding racehorses at his home near Karaka, as well as managing New Zealand teams.

He's wary of Olympic talk just yet. He will have plenty of work getting up to speed with a 12-year-old New Zealand thoroughbred, Santos, whom he rates highly and hopes to take through to London.

"I've had a break and freshened up and I wanted a challenge and a bit of fun," Tait said. "I guess if I don't have a go now I'd never be able to do it, so the timing is right."

However Tait is acutely aware there are no guarantees in his return to riding. He knows he must produce form at a time when the younger crop of riders are in good touch, and fresh from winning the team bronze medal at the World Games in Kentucky last year. Tait also insists this is a one-off, not the resumption of a riding career.

"It's a two-year campaign which might culminate in the Olympics. It's a specific and short-term goal. "I don't have any interest in going back and running a string of horses."

Tait says the achievements of Nicholson and double Olympic champion Todd have offered inspiration. But a recent trip to England, with visits to Nicholson and Todd's training yards, brought back old memories.

"I'd completely forgotten how hard they work. It's damned hard, it was cold, wet and they were out working horses. It's not an easy ride."

Tait, who won the individual Olympic gold in 1996 on Ready Teddy, four years after taking silver on Messiah, along with silver and bronze team medals in those years, isn't going in half-cocked.

He believes he can get back up to speed smartly, although "there's a bit of water to flow under the bridge between now and then, and I have to satisfy the selectors that I'm worthy of being selected".

Tait has a series of lower-key competitions in mind before targeting the four-star Burghley three-day event at the start of September to assess his progress.

And there's a goal in the background. "In my career we never managed to win the Olympic team gold.

"We've got a bit of strength in our team and if I can contribute to that effort I'd find that hugely satisfying."