Andrew Clifton Nicholson (born 1 August 1961 in

Te Awamutu Te Awamutu is a town in the Waikato, Waikato region in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the council seat of the Waipā District and serves as a service town for the farming communities which surround it. Te Awamutu is located some south ...

) is a New Zealand horseman who has competed at six Olympic Games (though selected for seven).

Biography

Born and raised in the

Waikato The Waikato () is a region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipā District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the nort ...

Nicholson moved to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in the 1980s to further his equestrian career. He currently works there as a horse trainer. Nicholson's greatest success at international level has been in Three-Day Event teams. He won a gold medal at the 1990

World Equestrian Games The FEI World Equestrian Games are the major international championships for equestrianism, and are administered by the Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI). The games have been held every four years, halfway between sets of consecutive S ...

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, a silver at the 1992 Olympics in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

and a bronze at the 1996 Olympics in

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, but he became infamous for his ride on Spinning Rhombus at Barcelona. With the New Zealand team having seven rails in hand to win the Gold medal, his horse knocked down nine rails, instead of withdrawing he kept the New Zealand team intact (his withdrawal would have instantly eliminated the entire team by dropping completing member numbers below the minimum required) to scoop the silver medal behind arch-rivals

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. Nicholson competed at the 2010 WEG (world equestrian games) and received a bronze medal. In the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours, Nicholson was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to equestrian sport. Nicholson and Mark Todd were the first New Zealanders to compete at six Olympic Games. Nicholson's best individual results have been at Burghley which he has won five times on; * Buckley Province in 1995, * Mr Smiffy in 2000, * Avebury in 2012, 2013 and 2014 consecutively. After winning Burghley 2012 it set off a winning streak for Nicholson going on to win; * Pau 2012 with his Olympic mount Nereo, * Kentucky 2013 on four star debutant Quimbo & * Lumuhlen 2013 on Mr Cruise Control. He also won Badminton Horse Trials with Nereo in 2017, after 36 completions. In 2019, Nicholson was an inaugural inductee into the Equestrian Sports New Zealand Hall of Fame.

CCI 5* Results

International championship results

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholson, Andrew 1961 births Living people New Zealand male equestrians New Zealand event riders Olympic silver medalists for New Zealand Olympic bronze medalists for New Zealand Olympic equestrians for New Zealand Olympic medalists in equestrian Equestrians at the 1984 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 1992 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 1996 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 2004 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 2008 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Te Awamutu Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit 20th-century New Zealand sportsmen