Bruce Davidson (equestrian)
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Full name | Bruce Oram Davidson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | December 31, 1949 Rome, New York, U.S. | (age 74)||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Bruce Oram Davidson (born December 31, 1949, in
At 18, Davidson tried out for the United States eventing team and was accepted. He won his first medal as a member of the silver-medal-winning US team at the
Personal life
In 1949, Davidson was born to Francis and Annette Davidson, the former a businessman and the latter a concert pianist. He was the third of four children, and had little opportunity to be around horses until his family moved to
In 1974, Davidson married Carol Hannum, a top rider and daughter of Nancy Hannum, who owns extensive property in Pennsylvania surrounding Davidson's Chesterland Farm.
In 2002, at a competition in
Career
Competition
At 18, Davidson participated in a tryout for aspiring eventers run by
Davidson won team eventing medals at Olympic Games in 1972, 1976, 1984 and 1996, and also competed at the 1988 Games. In the 1972 Games, at age 22, he took individual eighth, while the American team won silver. At the 1976 Summer Olympics, the team won gold while Davidson came in tenth individually. In 1984, Davidson, who finished 13th individually, was the lowest scoring member of the gold-medal-winning United States team. At the 1988 Games, Davidson took 18th, while the American team did not finish the competition. In 1996, Davidson did not compete as an individual, but the American team again took silver.[2]
Outside of the Olympics, Davidson also competed repeatedly at the Eventing World Championships and the
At the 1975 Pan American Games, he took both the individual and the team silver; he followed this up by an individual gold and a team silver at the 1995 Games.[10]
He has also ridden at the Badminton Horse Trials, where he is one of only two Americans to win that event, and he also holds the honor of having the most wins at the Rolex Three Day Event with six victories.[2] Through his 1974 World Championship victory, Davidson is credited with helping to create the Rolex event, as this victory allowed the US to host the 1978 World Championships. The 1978 event turned into an annual competition that eventually became the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day, which was the first and continues to be the only four-star eventing competition in the United States. Davidson has competed at the event almost every year since it began.[8]
In 1993 and 1995, Davidson held the top place in the world eventing rankings compiled by the
Other
In 2002, Davidson was named as one of the 50 most influential horsemen of the 20th century by the equine magazine The Chronicle of the Horse.[14] In 2009, Davidson was inducted to the United States Eventing Association Hall of Fame, along with his horse Irish Cap. In 2003, another horse ridden by Davidson, Plain Sailing, had also been inducted.[15]
Davidson is also known for his success in finding and training the horses that he rides at the international level. Irish Cap was purchased at the age of five years,
Notes
- ^ a b c d "Rider Bio: Bruce Davidson". United States Eventing Association. July 31, 2006. Archived from the original on 2006-11-24. Retrieved 2011-05-03.
- ^ a b c d e "Bruce Davidson". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 2020-04-17. Retrieved 2011-02-04.
- ^ "Sport: A Touch of Iron and Elegance". TIME. October 2, 1978. Archived from the original on October 14, 2010. Retrieved 2011-05-11.
- ^ Davis, Susan (November 14, 1994). "A Three-day Wonder". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2011-05-11.
- ^ Print. "Baughman, Davidson Receive FEI Yellow Cards At Mars Maryland 5 Star". www.chronofhorse.com. Retrieved 2022-11-11.
- ^ "Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event". The Horse. October 2, 2001. Retrieved 2011-05-03.
- ^ Young, Barbara (August 8, 2002). "Tragedy at US event". Horse & Hound. Retrieved 2011-05-05.
- ^ a b Beatty, Sarah (March 23, 2010). "Surgery Forces Bruce Davidson To Sit Out Rolex Kentucky". Chronicle of the Horse. Retrieved 2011-05-02.
- ^ Bryant, pp. 116–117.
- ^ a b c "Bruce Davidson". United States Eventing Association. Archived from the original on 2011-09-29. Retrieved 2011-05-02.
- ^ Kraft, Virginia (September 25, 1978). "Jumping to a Thrilling Conclusion". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2011-05-11.
- ^ "World Equestrian Games – Rome – Three Day Event – Individual Championship" (PDF). FEI. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-09-02. Retrieved 2011-05-11.
- ^ "World Equestrian Games – Rome – Three Day Event – Team Championship" (PDF). FEI. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-09-02. Retrieved 2011-05-11.
- ^ Church, Stephanie L. (October 11, 2002). "Most Influential Horsemen Announced". The Horse. Retrieved 2011-05-02.
- ^ "Hall of Fame". United States Eventing Association. Archived from the original on 2012-02-05. Retrieved 2012-01-01.
- ^ a b Bryant, p. 130.
References
- Bryant, Jennifer O. (2000). Olympic Equestrian:The Sports and the Stories from Stockholm to Sydney. The Blood-Horse, Inc. ISBN 1-58150-044-0.
Further reading
- O'Connor, Sally; Hussein, Akhtar; Silver, Caroline (1980). Bruce Davidson, World Champion of Eventing. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co. ISBN 978-0-395-29117-7.
External links