Leslie Law MBE (born 5 May 1965) is a British

eventer 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 ...

, who won the individual gold medal in the

2004 Summer Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

. He started riding at age 10, competing with his brother, and participated in his first accredited event in 1982. He attended

Lady Hawkins' School Lady Hawkins' School is a 11-16 secondary school in Kington, Herefordshire. The headteacher is Allen Brace. The school is now housed in modern buildings erected in 1962 and 1973, with other buildings erected more recently, almost all of which ...

, where his passion for riding developed further. By 1989, he was a widely respected competitor, and that year placed 8th at 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 ...

. After a period of consolidation, by the late 1990s he was counted amongst the sport's elite, placing in the top ten at Badminton, Burghley and the British Championship on a number of occasions.

Biography

Born in

Hereford Hereford ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of the ceremonial county of Herefordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Wye and lies east of the border with Wales, north-west of Gloucester and south-west of Worcester. With ...

, Law began in 1997 to compete on the brothers Shear H2O and Shear L'eau, a pair of

Irish Sport Horse The Irish Sport Horse (ISH), or Irish Hunter, is an Irish horse breed used mostly for eventing and show-jumping. Historically the ISH was bred by crossing Irish Draught and Thoroughbred stock, and the breed was formalised in the 1920s. Bre ...

greys that made him immediately recognisable on the cross-country course. On the former, he won at Bramham in 1999, came second and third at Badminton in 2000 and 2002, and was a member of the British team that won silver at the

2000 Olympic Games The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

and bronze at the 2002

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 ...

. On Shear L'eau, he won team gold at the European Championship. Their greatest success, however, was at the 2004 Olympics. Tenth after the dressage section, an excellent cross country still left him out of the medals, an inspired clear round in the show jumping saw him awarded the silver medal. However, amid much controversy the result was appealed, as video evidence showed that the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

ist, German rider

Bettina Hoy Bettina Hoy (born Bettina Overesch: November 7, 1962) is an Olympic-level equestrian rider who competes for Germany in Eventing competitions. Bettina competed in the 1984 Summer Olympics, 1996 Summer Olympics, and 2004 Summer Oly ...

, had crossed the start line twice, and thus incurred twelve penalty points. By the time the

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; , TAS) is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its courts are located in New York City, Sy ...

ruled against Hoy, promoting Law to the gold, he had returned to England and heard the news that he was

Olympic Champion This article includes lists of all Olympic medalists since 1896, organized by each Olympic sport or discipline, and also by Olympiad. Medalist with most medals by sport Summer Olympic sports Sports that will appear in the 2028 Summer Olympics ar ...

while competing in the Solihull Horse Trials. He was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire 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 ...

in the

2005 New Year Honours New Year Honours were granted in the United Kingdom and New Zealand at the start of 2005. Among these in the UK were knighthoods awarded to Mike Tomlinson, the educationalist; Derek Wanless, who led a review of the National Health Service; ...

List for services to Equestrian Sport."New Year Honours--United Kingdom"
''The London Gazette of Thursday 30 December 2004 Supplement No. 1''; accessed 14 August 2020.

References

* 1965 births Living people Equestrians at the 2000 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 2004 Summer Olympics British event riders English Olympic competitors Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Olympic equestrians for Great Britain British male equestrians Sportspeople from Hereford Olympic medalists in equestrian Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics {{UK-equestrian-bio-stub