Michael Jung to make his Badminton debut
Michael Jung will be joined by 12 other medallists from the London Olympics in the fight to win this year’s Badminton Horse Trials, including William Fox-Pitt and Zara Phillips
Mark Todd is a legend of the equestrian world and was named the FEI’s rider of the 20th century.
Mark secured his place in the history books when he won back to back Olympic individual gold medals on the diminutive Charisma at the 1984 Los Angeles and 1988 Seoul Games. He was the first eventer since World War II to take consecutive individual Olympic golds.
Before his first retirement from eventing in 2000, he also won three other Olympic medals – team bronze at Seoul, individual bronze at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, team silver at the 1992 Barcelona Games – and two team golds and an individual silver at World Equestrian Games. He also landed the top spot at Badminton three times and Burghley five.
Mark Todd retired from eventing after the Sydney Olympics and moved back to New Zealand.
In 2008, he staged a dramatic comeback, making New Zealand’s Olympic team for the Hong Kong Games just months after competing for the first time in eight years.
In 2010 he added to his medal tally with world team bronze at the Kentucky World Equestrian Games and in 2012 he was a member of New Zealand’s bronze medal-winning team at the London Olympics. But the greatest high of his rekindled career came when he secured a fourth Badminton win in 2011 on NZB Land Vision.
Mark announced his second retirement in July 2019, after winning the Nations Cup at Camphire in Ireland.
He now focuses on training racehorses from his Wiltshire base, Badgerstown. Mark is married to Carolyn and has two children, Lauren and James.