Andrew Hoy

Andrew Hoy is a successful Australian event rider who has won at five-star level and collected a number of Olympic medals.

Australian Olympic eventing team: Andrew Hoy and Vassily De Lassos

Andrew Hoy and Vassily De Lassos at the 2018 World Equestrian Games.

Hailing from Culcairn, New South Wales, Andrew has been based in Britain for most of his career.

His first championship was the 1978 worlds in Kentucky, USA.

How old is Andrew Hoy?

Andrew Hoy was born on 8 February 1959.

How many Olympics has Andrew ridden at?

He has ridden at eight Olympic Games in 1984 (on Davey), 1988 (on Kiwi), 1992 (on Kiwi), 1996 (in the team event on Darien Powers and in the individual on Gerswhin), 2000 (in the team event on Darien Powers and the individual on Swizzle In), 2004 (on Mr Pracatan), 2012 (on Rutherglen) and 2021 (on Vassily De Lassos).

Andrew Hoy and Darien Powers.

Andrew is the only Australian to have competed in eight Olympics in any sport, breaking his own record of seven when he was chosen for the Australian eventing team at the Tokyo Games.

He won team gold in the 1992, 1996 and 2000. He also won individual silver in 2000 and most recently, he collected individual bronze and team silver in Tokyo in 2021.

How many five-stars has Andrew Hoy won?

Andrew has won three five-stars.

Andrew arrived on the British eventing scene with a bang when he won Burghley Horse Trials for the first time in 1978 riding Davey. He went on to win the same event in 2004 riding Moonfleet.

In 2006, he won the Kentucky Three-Day Event on Master Monarch and then Badminton Horse Trials, riding Moonfleet. This set him up for a bid for the Rolex Grand Slam of eventing, but he was unable to complete the grand slam, finishing second at Burghley on Moonfleet.

Is Andrew still riding at the top level?

Yes. Andrew went through a period in the early 2010s where his five-star results were not as competitive as previously, although he didn’t have any long breaks from competition. Fourth place at the 2018 World Equestrian Games in Tryon marked his best five-star result for a decade and three years later, he was an individual Olympic medallist in Tokyo.

“I felt that I was always really competitive — I refused to accept I wasn’t — but I went through a period where for whatever reason my results were not at the top end of the leaderboard,” he said in an interview at the end of 2018, explaining he upped his training with mentors such as Mark Phillips and Nelson Passoa and took an open-minded view on new innovations to get back to the top level.

“People have said to me this year, ‘Andrew, we don’t want you to take this the wrong way, but we’re now seeing the Andrew Hoy of former times’.

“Twelve or 14 years ago, I had wonderful horses, but I was also riding in a manner where I was able to run and jump and wasn’t pulling or fighting against the horses. That’s what Mark Phillips has helped me to get back into.

“It’s been really hard, these things don’t come easy.”

Is Andrew Hoy married? Does he have children?

Andrew is married to German Stefanie (née Strobl), who runs a communications agency, and the pair have two children, Philippa (born August 2017) and Oscar (born August 2019).

Andrew was previously married to German event rider Bettina Hoy (née Overesch).

Where is Andrew based?

Andrew is based in the Leicestershire village of Somerby, where he has his yard and he and his family live in a separate house nearby.