Michael Whitaker (born 17 March 1960) is a British Olympic

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 ...

rider, who competes in the sport of

show jumping Show jumping is a part of a group of English riding equestrian events that also includes eventing, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes are commonly seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics. Sometimes shows ar ...

. He was ranked 5th by the British Showjumping Association in March 2014.

Career

Younger brother of John Whitaker, Michael began competing on ponies at the age of 5. At the age of 16, he made his debut in international competitions and in 1980 he became the second youngest winner of the

Hickstead Hickstead may refer to: * All England Jumping Course at Hickstead, a show jumping venue in England * Hickstead (horse), an Olympic gold medal-winning show jumping horse * Hickstead, a hamlet in Twineham civil parish, in the Mid Sussex Distri ...

Derby, at the age of 20. In September 1993 he took over from his brother John as the internationally top-ranked show jumping rider. In 2009 Whitaker was banned from competition for four months after his stallion Tackeray tested positive for a synthetic hormone altrenogest during a competition in France. Altrenogest is a female hormone that Whitaker claimed was present in the sample due to a mix up in feed buckets. Whitaker was found to be negligent for the positive test.

Personal life

Born and raised on his parents' farm in Yorkshire. He and his three brothers were taught to ride by their mother Enid, a keen horsewoman. Michael began riding aged three on a Shetland pony named Hercules. In December 1980, Whitaker married Belgian show jumper Veronique. They separated in 1997, and later divorced. He married his second wife on 13 August 2013. They live in Whatton, Nottinghamshire with their children. Their son

Jack Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, incl ...

is also a show jumper. His niece

Ellen Ellen is a female given name, a diminutive of Elizabeth (given name), Elizabeth, Eleanor, Elena, and Helen (given name), Helen. Ellen was the 609th most popular name in the U.S. and the 17th in Sweden in 2004. People named Ellen include: * Elle ...

and nephews

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, prais ...

and

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

are also show jumpers.

Major achievements

*1984:

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 ...

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, ...

. Team Silver medal with Overton Amanda *1985:

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

Dinard Dinard (; , ; Gallo: ''Dinard'') is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department, Brittany, northwestern France. Dinard is on the Côte d'Émeraude of Brittany. Its beaches and mild climate make it a holiday destination, and this has resul ...

. Team Gold medal with Warren Point *1986:

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

. Team Silver medal with Warren Point *1987: European Championships, St. Gallen. Team Gold Medal with Overton Amanda *1989: European Championships,

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

. Team Gold Medal and individual silver medal with Mon Santa *1990: World Equestrian Games,

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

. Team Bronze medal with Mon Santa *1991: European Championships,

La Baule La Baule-Escoublac (; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Écoubiâ'', , ), commonly referred to as La Baule, is a communes of France, commune in Loire-Atlantique, a departments of France, department in Pays de la Loire, western France. History Seaside re ...

. Team Silver medal with Mon Santa *1993: European Championships, Gijon. Team Silver medal and individual bronze with Midnight Madness *1994: World Cup Final,

's-Hertogenbosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 160,783. It is the capital of ...

. 3rd place with Midnight Madness *1995: European Championships, St. Gallen. Silver medals in team and individual with Two Step *1997: European Championships,

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (), is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, the States of Ger ...

. Team Bronze Medal with Ashley *2001: World Cup Final,

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

. 3rd place with Handel II *2005: World Cup Final,

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

2nd place with Portofino 63 *2007: European Championships, Mannheim. Team Bronze Medal with Portofino 63

References

External links

*
BSJA profile

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070830220929/http://www.em2007.de/results/ FEI European Jumping Championship – Mannheim – 2007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Whitaker, Michael 1960 births Living people English male equestrians Olympic equestrians for Great Britain British male equestrians Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Equestrians at the 1984 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 1992 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 1996 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 2000 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 2016 Summer Olympics British show jumping riders Sportspeople from Huddersfield Olympic medalists in equestrian Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Doping cases in equestrian sports Banned sportspeople