Ian David Stark,

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(born 22 February 1954) is a retired

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or riding in British English) Examples of this are: *Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...

who competed in the sport of

eventing Eventing (also known as three-day eventing or horse trials) is an equestrian event where the same horse and rider combination compete against other competitors across the three disciplines of dressage, cross-country, and show jumping. This ...

. Stark was born in

Galashiels Galashiels (; , ) is a town in the Scottish Borders with a population of around 12,600. Its name is often colloquially shortened to "Gala". The town is a major commercial centre for the Borders region with extensive history in the textile in ...

in the

Borders A border is a geographical boundary. Border, borders, The Border or The Borders may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * ''Border'' (1997 film), an Indian Hindi-language war film * ''Border'' (2018 Swedish film), ...

in 1954 and began riding horses at the age of 10. Stark was inducted into the

Scottish Sports Hall of Fame The Scottish Sports Hall of Fame is the national sports hall of fame of Scotland, set up in 2002. It is a joint project organised by sportscotland, the national governmental body for Scottish sport, and National Museums Scotland. It is also funded ...

in March 2010.

Career

In 1984 Stark won a silver medal for eventing in the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

, which were held in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. In 2000 Stark won a silver team medal for eventing in the Olympic Games held in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Other accomplishments are: *Two silver medals in the Seoul Games of 1988 *Two silver medals in the World Championships in 1990 *Two gold medals in the

European Eventing Championship The European Eventing Championships, like most other European Championships, is held every two years. Today it is a four star eventing Eventing (also known as three-day eventing or horse trials) is an equestrian event where the same horse ...

s in 1991 *A gold in the

s in 1997 *Winner of the

Badminton Horse Trials The Badminton Horse Trials is a five-day event, one of only seven annual Concours Complet International (CCI) Five Star events as classified by the Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI). It takes place in May each year in the park of ...

in 1999 Stark retired from competition upon completing the 2007 Kentucky Three Day Event aboard Full Circle II.

Honours

Stark was awarded the MBE in 1989 and OBE in 2000.Ian Stark Equestrian Centre, Biography
/ref>

References

External links

*

at the

Gazetteer for Scotland The ''Gazetteer for Scotland'' is a gazetteer covering the geography, history and people of Scotland. It was conceived in 1995 by Bruce Gittings of the University of Edinburgh and David Munro of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, and co ...

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stark, Ian 1954 births Living people British event riders Scottish equestrians Equestrians at the 1984 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 1988 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 1992 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 1996 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 2000 Summer Olympics Officers of the Order of the British Empire Olympic equestrians for Great Britain British male equestrians Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Sportspeople from Galashiels Olympic medalists in equestrian Scottish Olympic competitors Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics