TOM MCEWEN is someone you’d want on your side in a crisis. Not that Britain’s eventing team ever had a moment’s worry as the trio sauntered to victory in Tokyo, but the nation’s 49-year wait for another Olympic team gold had built up some momentum. But while the fans go wild, such a colossal achievement looks unlikely to go to Tom’s head. Back home the day after bagging team gold and individual silver medals with the superstar Toledo De Kerser, the 30-year-old is quietly rather than effusively ecstatic.
He has enjoyed a party with his family and support team; he’s visited his parents, and – when we speak 48 hours after that brilliant performance – he had just arrived at his Gatcombe yard ready to ride out the next generation of potential Olympians.
“Luckily I have some young horses who’ll be out competing next week,” he says. “I do need that pressure.”
Tom’s ability to thrive when the chips are down is a massive asset in the hothouse of an Olympics. Britain’s team of three five-star winners started the firm favourites, making a potential slip-up all the more discomfiting.
“Although all our horses are incredible, there was even more pressure being expected to win, because there had been such stiff competition for places on the team,” Tom says. “There was another team back home that could have produced as good a result, so we had to prove they took the right horses.”
But Tom relished the Olympic fever.
“I’d quite happily jump under that sort of pressure every day of the week,” he says. “I love it; it’s why I do it – it pushes me harder.
This story is from the August 19, 2021 edition of Horse & Hound.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the August 19, 2021 edition of Horse & Hound.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
I've ever 'He's the best ridden'
Dannie Morgan wins three national titles and the next generation of dressage stars rise to the occasion as one title goes down to the wire
I Am Maximus hailed hero
The Grand National produces a triumph of sporting brilliance, with several fairy-tale endings
Evergreen mare takes top spot
Familiar faces take top honours, as eventers impress and new combinations win championship titles for the first time
A match made in Paradise
The 1,000 supreme titles are netted by a much-admired 138cm show pony and a consistent heavyweight hunter
McLean's dash north pays dividends
The Scottish rider picks up a raft of Highland qualifiers and there's an unusual jumping test in Somerset
Buy Some Time finds the winning factor
A six-yearold makes a welcome return to form and some unexpected fast ground produces an epic clash
A sash, at last!
Sarah Moy fulfils a lifelong ambition, a spooky superstar” retains a title and polocrosse provides a winning formula
A win for Cesar and Claire
The VWHs Claire King battles demanding going to take the Wynnstay hunt ride on honest and clever” Cesar Et Rosalie, reports Catherine Austen
Cognac
This \"Jekyll and Hyde\" ex-racehorse never said no to a fence and had a definite sense of humour
We've got each other's backs
As part of H&H's 140th anniversary this year, we are celebrating Britain's great horsey families with a series of interviews. In our second instalment, we speak to multi-medallist Gareth Hughes, his wife Rebecca and their daughter Ruby