Simon Laurens (born 28 November 1967 in

Saint Brélade St Brelade (Jèrriais and ) is one of the twelve parishes of Jersey in the Channel Islands. It is around west of St Helier. Its population was 11,012 as of 2021. The parish is the second-largest parish by surface area, covering 7,103 vergé ...

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

) is a British

Para-equestrian Para-equestrian is an equestrian sport governed by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI), and includes two competitive events. One is para-equestrian dressage, which is conducted under the same basic rules as conventional dre ...

who competed at the

2008 Summer Paralympics The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China, from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was ...

, held in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, China.

Sports career

He started riding at the age of eight and competed in

gymkhana Gymkhana () (, , , , ) is a British Raj term which originally referred to a place of assembly. The meaning then altered to denote a place where skill-based contests were held. "Gymkhana" is an Anglo-Indian expression, which is derived from the ...

and

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 ...

with his

palomino Palomino is a equine coat color, genetic color in horses, consisting of a gold coat and white mane (horse), mane and tail; the degree of whiteness can vary from bright white to yellow. The palomino color derived from the breeding of Spanish hor ...

Champagne, before taking up dressage whilst working with Gemma Green for nine years at her yard in Jersey. Laurens was diagnosed with

multiple sclerosis Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease resulting in damage to myelinthe insulating covers of nerve cellsin the brain and spinal cord. As a demyelinating disease, MS disrupts the nervous system's ability to Action potential, transmit ...

in 2004. Within two years he began competing for the Great Britain para

dressage Dressage ( or ; , most commonly translated as "training") is a form of horse riding performed in exhibition and competition, as well as an art sometimes pursued solely for the sake of mastery. As an equestrianism, equestrian sport defined by th ...

team. He won the National Grade III Disabled Dressage title in 2006 and 2007 and also won both team and individual freestyle golds at the 2007 World Para Championships. Selected to compete at his first Paralympic Games in 2008, Laurens entered the individual freestyle test grade III and was part of the

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

quartet for the overall team championship. Competing on his horse ''Ocean Diamond'' he won the silver medal in the individual event behind

Hannelore Brenner Hannelore Brenner (born 21 June 1963) is a German Paralympian dressage equestrian athlete. Life Brenner was born in Lüneburg Lüneburg, officially the Hanseatic City of Lüneburg and also known in English as Lunenburg, is a town in the Ger ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. In the team open Laurens, with teammates

Lee Pearson Sir David Lee Pearson (born 4 February 1974) is a 14-times Paralympic Games gold medallist, having represented British para-equestrianism in Sydney, Athens, Beijing, London, Rio, and Tokyo. Over the course of his career he has won 30 gold med ...

Anne Dunham Anne Patricia Dunham (24 September 1948 – 11 May 2025) was a British Para-equestrian who competed in the Paralympic Games. Early life and disability Whilst at school Dunham worked at a local stable in her spare time and, by the age of 16, she ...

and Sophie Christiansen won the gold medal. This meant that Great Britain has won a gold medal in that event at four consecutive Games. Following his success in Beijing he was named the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

South West Disabled Sports Personality of the year for 2008. In 2009 Laurens won three medals at the European Championships held in

Kristiansand Kristiansand is a city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality is the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 116,000 as of January 2020, following th ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, and was one six people whose efforts were recognised with the award of a medal of honour for "activities connected with international endeavour in relation to equestrian sport". Later that year he was named Disability Sports Personality of the Year at the

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

Media Sports Awards. He announced his retirement from international para-equestrian dressage in January 2011, citing "personal and financial reasons" for his decision.

References

External links

* Living people 1967 births Jersey sportsmen Equestrians at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Paralympic equestrians for Great Britain Paralympic gold medalists for Great Britain Paralympic silver medalists for Great Britain People from Saint Brélade Medalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Paralympic medalists in equestrian British male equestrians {{England-sport-bio-stub