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Event rider who won three Olympic medals dies aged 81

Obituary
Becky Murray Becky Murray

    • Kevin Freeman, the Olympic US event rider died peacefully on 10 March, aged 81.

    Mr Freeman was born in Portland, Oregon, and grew up on a farm. After leaving school he studied for a business degree in New York, then an MBA at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

    He enjoyed a variety of sports including polo, skiing and eventing. His first team appearance was at the 1963 Pan American Games, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where the US eventing team won gold and Mr Freeman took individual silver. He went on to win three Olympic team silver medals; at the 1964 Tokyo Games on Gallopade, the 1968 Mexico City Games on Chalan, and the 1972 Games in Munich on Good Mixture. In Munich he was the highest-placed American rider and rode one of only three clear rounds in the cross-country phase.

    Alongside eventing, Mr Freeman also successfully competed in steeplechasing and showjumping. He was third in the Maryland Hunt Cup, known to be one of the toughest steeplchase courses in the world. He also won the Pennsylvania Hunt Cup, and the New Jersey Hunt Cup.

    Mr Freeman was also a popular coach, and he hosted the Freeman Farm Horse Trials at his family’s farm in Molalla, Oregon, for many years. He formerly ran a farm-implement manufacturing business, J A Freeman and Son, with his father and two brothers, before it was sold in 2004. He then formed the real estate business the Freeman Group with his brothers, which he continued to run until his death.

    He was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1991, and the US Eventing Association Hall of Fame in 2009 along with Good Mixture.

    Mr Freeman is survived by his wife Barrie, his children Eric, Peter, Kevin and Wendy, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

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    Becky Murray
    Becky Murray

    H&H senior news writer
    Since joining H&H in 2018, Becky has covered a broad range of equestrian news including welfare matters, veterinary studies, FEI Tribunal hearings and road safety campaigns. She has also interviewed top riders including Scott Brash, John Whitaker and Ian Stark, to name just a few. Becky’s reporting has taken her to Canada for Spruce Meadows and France for Pau five-star, as well as the Royal Highland and Blair Castle International Horse Trials closer to home. She was also a key part of the remote reporting team for the Tokyo Olympics and the Europeans.
    Becky Murray

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