Richard John Hannay Meade (4 December 1938 – 8 January 2015) was Britain's most successful male equestrian at the Olympics. He was a triple

Olympic gold medal Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece be ...

ist and the first British rider to win an individual Olympic title. He also won five

World Championship 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, ...

medals, including team golds in 1970 and 1982.

Biography

Early life

Meade was born in

Chepstow Chepstow ( cy, Cas-gwent) is a town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales, adjoining the border with Gloucestershire, England. It is located on the tidal River Wye, about above its confluence with the River Severn, and adjoining the wester ...

, Monmouthshire,

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. His parents, John and Phyllis (née Watts) were joint masters of the Curre Hounds at Itton and set up Britain's first

Connemara Connemara (; )( ga, Conamara ) is a region on the Atlantic coast of western County Galway, in the west of Ireland. The area has a strong association with traditional Irish culture and contains much of the Connacht Irish-speaking Gaeltacht, w ...

stud. He was educated at

Lancing College Lancing College is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in southern England, UK. The school is located in West Sussex, east of Worthing near the village of Lancing, on the south coast of Engl ...

and

Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mar ...

, where he read Engineering and was a member of the Hawks' Club. He served in the

11th Hussars The 11th Hussars (Prince Albert's Own) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army established in 1715. It saw service for three centuries including the First World War and Second World War but then amalgamated with the 10th Royal Hussars (Prin ...

and briefly worked in the

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before embarking on a life committed to the equestrian sphere.Richard Meade
sports-reference.com

Equestrian career

Throughout his

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

career Meade was the outstanding rider of his time and the lynchpin of British teams for 21 years. In 1964, he won the

Burghley Horse Trials The Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials is an annual three-day event held at Burghley House near Stamford, Lincolnshire, England, currently in early September. Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials is classified by the FEI as one of the six leading th ...

on Barberry. Meade was a member of Britain's gold medal winning team at both the

1968 The year was highlighted by Protests of 1968, protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechos ...

and 1972 Summer Olympics, and also won the individual gold in 1972. He also competed in the

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...

and 1976 Olympics, as well as the substitute competition in Fontainebleau during the partial boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Meade also won two

gold medals and three silver medals, as well as three European Championship gold medals and two bronze medals. He twice won the

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

, in 1970 on The Poacher and in 1982 on Speculator III. Following the

Munich massacre The Munich massacre was a terrorist attack carried out during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, by eight members of the Palestinian militant organization Black September, who infiltrated the Olympic Village, killed two members ...

during the 1972 Olympic games, Meade was flown back to London to read a lesson at the memorial service for the victims. He then returned to carry the

union flag The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. Although no law has been passed making the Union Flag the official national flag of the United Kingdom, it has effectively become such through precedent. ...

during the closing ceremony of the games. Meade excelled at the major events and championships; in four Olympic games he never finished out of the top eight places. When he retired he was 6th in the list of the most successful British Olympians of all time across all sports; he is currently equal 11th. Despite winning both the team gold and the individual gold medals at Munich in 1972, he felt that his greatest Olympic memory was four years earlier at

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

where Britain won the team gold in very difficult conditions after intense rainfall. He felt his best performance was at the 1976

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games riding Jacob Jones, who was a relatively cautious horse; they finished 4th individually.

Honours and awards

He was voted BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year in 1972. The same year he came third in the

BBC Sports Personality of the Year The BBC Sports Personality of the Year is an awards ceremony that takes place annually in December. Devised by Paul Fox in 1954, it originally consisted of just one, the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award. Several new awards have been ...

and was a member of the Team of the Year. In 1974 he was appointed an

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

for services to sport. In 1996 he was inducted into the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame.

Positions and career after competing

After his retirement from competing, Meade was a dedicated contributor to the equestrian world. He served on the

British Horse Society The British Horse Society (BHS) is a membership-based equine charity, with a stated vision of "a Society which provides a strong voice for horses and people and which spreads awareness through support, training and education". It currently has ...

’s Council and was Chairman of the British Horse Foundation. He was also formerly President of the British Equestrian Federation, a member of the International Equestrian Federation’s (FEI) Eventing Committee and then a Bureau Member and Chairman of its Northern European Group of Nations. He served on the sport's governing body in the UK (now

British Eventing British Eventing (BE) is the Great Britain governing body for the equestrianism, equestrian sport of eventing, which combines a single rider and horse pairing competing in dressage, showjumping and Cross-country equestrianism, cross country. The ...

) continuously for over 30 years until after its reorganisation in 1996 when he was made a Vice President. He was an FEI Judge and Course Designer, roles that took him all over the world. He was also a well-respected judge of show horses. Latterly, Meade worked as an equestrian

expert witness An expert witness, particularly in common law countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States, is a person whose opinion by virtue of education, training, certification, skills or experience, is accepted by the judge ...

and continued to train riders from his home in

South Gloucestershire South Gloucestershire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, South West England. Towns in the area include Yate, Chipping Sodbury, Thornbury, Filton, Patchway and Bradley Stoke, the latter three forming par ...

Fox-hunting

In 2001, the

RSPCA The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) is a charity operating in England and Wales that promotes animal welfare. The RSPCA is funded primarily by voluntary donations. Founded in 1824, it is the oldest and largest a ...

expelled Meade for organising a campaign to encourage supporters of

fox hunting Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of h ...

to join so as to put pressure on the society to change its policy.

Personal life

Around 1970 Meade was briefly linked to Princess Anne. In 1977 he married Angela Dorothy Farquhar. In 1979 they had a son, Charles, who died aged seven months. They had three more children: James (b. 1981), Harry (b. 1983), and Lucy (b. 1985). On 14 September 2013, his son, James Meade, married Lady Laura Marsham, daughter of

Julian Charles Marsham, 8th Earl of Romney Julian may refer to: People * Julian (emperor) (331–363), Roman emperor from 361 to 363 * Julian (Rome), referring to the Roman gens Julia, with imperial dynasty offshoots * Saint Julian (disambiguation), several Christian saints * Julian (give ...

, at St Nicholas' Church in

Gayton, Norfolk Gayton is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is located east of King's Lynn and north-west of Norwich, along the Gaywood River and the B1145 between King's Lynn and Mundesley. History Gayton's name is ...

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge William, Prince of Wales, (William Arthur Philip Louis; born 21 June 1982) is the heir apparent to the British throne. He is the elder son of King Charles III and his first wife Diana, Princess of Wales. Born in London, William was edu ...

Prince Harry Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, (Henry Charles Albert David; born 15 September 1984) is a member of the British royal family. He is the younger son of Charles III and his first wife Diana, Princess of Wales. He is fifth in the line of succ ...

, and

Pippa Middleton Philippa Charlotte Matthews (née Middleton; born 6 September 1983) is an English socialite, author and columnist. She is the younger sister of Catherine, Princess of Wales. Born in Reading and raised in Bucklebury, Berkshire, Middleton attende ...

were in attendance at the wedding. James is godfather to Princess Charlotte of Wales, and Lady Laura is godmother to Prince Louis of Wales. His younger son Harry, whom Richard greatly supported, is himself a renowned event rider who has competed for Great Britain at the World Championships.

Death

Meade died on 8 January 2015, after receiving treatment for cancer. He was 76.Triple Olympic champion Richard Meade dies aged 76
British Olympic Association. 9 January 2015"Obituary: Triple Olympic gold-medallist Richard Meade"
''BBC'' (9 January 2015). Retrieved on 24 July 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meade, Richard 1938 births 2015 deaths People educated at Lancing College Welsh equestrians Equestrians at the 1964 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 1968 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 1972 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic equestrians of Great Britain British male equestrians Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Welsh Olympic medallists British event riders Officers of the Order of the British Empire English Olympic medallists Olympic medalists in equestrian People from Chepstow Sportspeople from Monmouthshire Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics