British dressage great Carl Hester is set to ride in his seventh, and possibly last, Olympics with a seventh different horse and a film of his life story waiting to be made once the Paris Games are out of the way.
Winner of team gold (2012), silver (2016), and bronze (2020) in an Olympic run that started in Barcelona in 1992, the 57-year-old will partner Fame, a 14-year-old stallion lent by 2016 silver medalist Fiona Bigwood.
If all goes well, Hester could go out at the top. “He’s certainly one of the best horses that I’ve had in my career,” Hester said. “He has a lot of quality, a lot of personality. He is a horse I can describe as loving his job. “I know that sounds a bit cliche but literally every day that I have ridden that horse he comes out with a work ethic of 100 percent every single time, and he’s just an absolute pleasure to ride.
“If it is my last Olympics Games, I couldn’t be happier to finish it on a horse like that. I don’t think, well, I say this every time, probably wouldn’t find another one like that. He is very special.”
Whether or not the oldest member of the British team in Paris calls time on his Olympic career, after equaling show jumping compatriot Nick Skelton’s British record seven Games, remains to be seen.
He will be in his 60s by the time Los Angeles 2028 comes around but still younger than Australian eventer Andrew Hoy was when he took silver in 2021 at the age of 62 and way off Canadian show jumper Ian Millar’s 10 Games ending in 2012.
“I would like this to be my last Olympic Games if it goes well but of course you can’t say that,” said Hester, who won his gold with Uthopia, silver with Nip Tuck, and bronze with En Vogue.
In 1992, he competed with Giorgione, in 2000 on Argentille Gullit, and in 2004 on Exquis Escapado.
“I try to say nothing because I just think what happens if something goes wrong between now and then? I wouldn’t want my career to end like that.”
“I know that Fame will go back to Fiona after the Games anyway so although he might have another Olympics in him it won’t be with me.
“So again, it’s that question of ‘will I find another one like that?’ I’ll just wait and get Paris out of the way and see how I feel.”
Whatever happens in France, Hester’s story is written.
A script has been finished for a biopic charting his journey from a humble start on Sark, a tiny Channel Island with donkeys but no cars, to a gold medal and mixing with the social elite as one of the world’s top dressage riders and trainers.
Producer Andrew Curtis said that Hester’s story was akin to ‘Billy Elliot’, the 2000 movie about a working-class boy growing up in a gritty mining community with a yearning for ballet.
Hester joked he would be happy, at this stage in his life, to be portrayed by George Clooney.
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