clipper314
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Eric Lamaze & Hickstead win Canada's first ever individual Equestrian Gold
Quite the comeback story...
Eric Lamaze & mighty Hickstead..
The gold medal ride.
What a beautiful horse.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeG8roU2qXc
Eric Lamaze aboard Hickstead
"He's one of those Big Bens you maybe get once in your lifetime." - Lamaze talking about Hisckstead
Lamaze was disqualifed from the Olympics in 1996 & 2000 for positive drug tests.
And deemed not good enough for the 2004 Olympic team.
BEIJING — Eric Lamaze looked back over his right shoulder to be sure, as though to convince himself it had really happened.
The last jump was clean, not a block knocked out of place, which meant the gold medal belonged to the man who'd twice been told he couldn't represent his country at a Summer Olympics.
And now look at him: Canada's first Olympic gold medalist in equestrian's individual event and a silver medalist in the team jumping competition; a full-medal horseman.
Could any salvation be sweeter?
Eric Lamaze of Schomberg, Ont., rides Hickstead during the Equestrian Individual Jumping competition during the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Hong Kong, Thursday.
Enlarge Image
Eric Lamaze of Schomberg, Ont., rides Hickstead during the Equestrian Individual Jumping competition during the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Hong Kong, Thursday. (Kin Cheung/AP)
The Globe and Mail
On a steamy night at Hong Kong's Sha Tin Equestrian Park, Lamaze put his horse, Hickstead, through his paces so expertly, so carefully, they never came close to touching a rail, let alone knocking one to the ground.
They flew where other horses clomped. They had better hang time than a CFL punter.
And when Rolf-Goran Bengtsson of Sweden nicked and toppled the blocks on the last obstacle in the jump-off, Lamaze had his chance for glory and went after it, cleanly.
The two riders finished their jump-off in exactly the same time of 38.39 seconds.
"You're amazing," Jill Henselwood screamed when Lamaze rejoined his applauding Canadian teammates. There were no arguments on this evening.
From start to finish, 40-year-old Lamaze was as cool as the inside of a refrigerator.
When veteran Ian Millar recorded eight faults in the first round and Henselwood had to withdraw in the second when her horse refused to jump, everything came down to the first-time Olympian who was barred in 1996, barred again in 2000 (both times for positive drug tests) and simply not good enough in 2004.
In the jump-off, Lamaze outduelled Bengtsson and 21 other riders who wilted under the strain and sweltering conditions. He said he knew Hickstead, a 12-year-old Dutch stallion, was good for the show after going clear in the first round.
"He's always been good in the second round," Lamaze said in a media telephone conference call. "He's one of those Big Bens you maybe get once in your lifetime. He's such a careful horse."
This has been a once-in-a-lifetime stretch for Lamaze, who entered Beijing as the fourth-best rider on the planet, the highest ranking any Canadian has held in almost 20 years. He won a bronze medal at the Pan American Games last year and helped Canada win the silver in the team event, thereby stamping everyone's Olympic ticket to China.
Before that, he became the first North American rider to earn more than $1-million in prize money in a single year and was chosen as Canada's top equestrian. He also had a plan for Hickstead, taking his trusty steed to Europe, where the two competed against the best in the game on a regular basis.
The goal was to get Hickstead battle-ready for the Olympics.
"This is something I worked on the last two years with that particular horse, to give him as much mileage so he can be the best horse he can be," Lamaze said. "To have it all happen and come together like that is amazing."
Lamaze's story has been well documented and debated, and some may never forgive him for twice being caught with cocaine in his system before an Olympic Games and for embarrassing the sport and its many sponsors. What earned Lamaze his acceptance back into equine circles was his hard work and ability to make horses do what he wanted under pressure.
When Lamaze hooked up with Hickstead, they became the perfect partnership — the driven rider and the careful horse. They started winning events, smaller ones, then bigger ones until the Olympics became a plausible dream.
"There was a time I was so far away from ever dreaming this," said Lamaze, who teared up while standing on the podium and listening to O Canada. "It involved so many other people than me, people who encouraged me to move on and to have them show great support. I do think of them. That's where the tears came from."
As for the riding skills, they never went away; they got better, confirming what Millar once said of Lamaze, that "he's one of the most talented riders ever seen."
Only now he has a gold medal to call his own. He won it, he deserved it and as sign of his maturation, he spoke of his teammates ("It shouldn't have been just me on the podium, it should have been the whole team") and of the power of salvation.
"It just shows if you give people a second chance and allow them to come back from a mistake, great things can happen," he told television viewers in Canada. "I'm a perfect example."
With the gold medal around his neck, he was the perfect rider, too.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080821.wolym_lamaze0821/BNStory/Sports/columnists
Last edited by clipper314, 8/22/2008, 4:45 am
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"The dogs may bark, but the caravan passes on."
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