When he coaches, Tom Gayford doesn’t mince words.
As an Olympic gold medalist turned chef d’equipe for countless Olympics after his win, when Gayford speaks — riders listen.
Jimmy Elder has had the same impact.
After all, he and Gayford helped put equestrian show jumping in the Canadian spotlight for the first time, at the Mexico City Olympics in 1968.
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“The sport was in a complete transition,” said Elder.
Sitting down to speak with Gayford and Elder is in the riding world what a chat with Bobbie Orr and Wayne Gretzky would be to hockey.
But the road to success for Canada’s first famous riders was bumpy at best.
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They had to fund raise to fly their mounts to Mexico City, in a plane which didn’t quite work.
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“The first plane that came in, we couldn’t even get the horses through the door,” explained Elder.
Once they got the horses to the Olympics, they faced jumps larger than today’s.
Back then course designers made it so difficult, even some of the best horses couldn’t get around.
Now, there are restrictions on the height and width of the jumps.
Then there was the stadium, filled with 100,000 screaming fans, which was intimidating to the Canadian team that was used to competing at country fairs.
They had never experienced anything like it.
“You are standing there before you go in and you can feel the horse’s heart just pounding,” said Elder.
“There’s a buzz,” Gayford said.
“If you ever looked up at the crowd, you were cooked, just hypnotized.”
Gayford went first, and brought back the news.
It was a daunting course, including three giant jumps in a row, where you had to go hard.
“That was the whole key, to come through there alive,” he said.
But they did more than that — they came through victorious.
With a gold medal win, they suddenly had the attention of sports writers and sponsors.
Canada has seen a lot of success since.
Eric Lamaze is a contender in Rio after winning the individual gold medal in Beijing in 2008.
An article about Lamaze is tucked in among Gayford’s countless prizes.
“I gave him his first ride and his first Grand Prix win,” he said.
Gayford’s passion for the sport has never let up, he still coaches, making time not just for elite athletes but for competitors of all levels.
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