Blyth Tait

Blyth Tait
Personal information
Full nameRobert Blyth Tait
Born (1961-05-10) 10 May 1961 (age 63)
Whangārei, New Zealand
Sport
CountryNew Zealand
SportEquestrian
EventEventing
Medal record
Representing  New Zealand
Equestrian
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1996 Atlanta Individual eventing
Silver medal – second place 1992 Barcelona Team eventing
Bronze medal – third place 1992 Barcelona Individual eventing
Bronze medal – third place 1996 Atlanta Team eventing
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1990 Stockholm Individual eventing
Gold medal – first place 1990 Stockholm Team eventing
Gold medal – first place 1998 Rome Individual eventing
Gold medal – first place 1998 Rome Team eventing

Robert Blyth Tait MBE (born 10 May 1961) is a New Zealand equestrian. Tait has competed at four Olympics and has won four medals, one of only six New Zealanders to do so.[1]

Tait's first success at international level was at the 1990 World Equestrian Games in Stockholm, when he won Gold in both the individual and team events riding Messiah. At the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, he won Bronze in the individual event after teammate Vicky Latta knocked down a rail in the showjumping, and Silver in the team event with Latta and Andrew Nicholson (Mark Todd was also in the team but was not awarded a medal as he did not finish the event). At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, he won Gold in the individual and Bronze in the Team event. Tait repeated his World Championships double Gold effort at Rome in 1998 riding Ready Teddy. He was flag-bearer for the New Zealand team at the 2000 Summer Olympics, but he was eliminated in both the individual and team events. Tait completed his competitive Olympic career with a fifth in the team event at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. He was the eventing manager for the 2008 Summer Olympics.[2]

In the 1993 Queen's Birthday Honours, Tait was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, for services to equestrian sport.[3]

  1. ^ "Blyth Tait". Olympic.org.nz. New Zealand Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 22 May 2010.
  2. ^ "Out Olympians add to medal tally". Southern Voice. 29 August 2008. Archived from the original on 12 October 2008. Retrieved 29 October 2008.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  3. ^ "No. 53334". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 12 June 1993. p. 38.