Julie Claire Brougham (née D'Ath; 20 May 1954 – 9 December 2021) was a New Zealand equestrian, competing in

dressage Dressage ( or ; a French term, most commonly translated to mean "training") is a form of horse riding performed in exhibition and competition, as well as an art sometimes pursued solely for the sake of mastery. As an equestrian sport defined b ...

. She became New Zealand's oldest Olympic competitor when she competed at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

at age 62.

Biography

Early life and major competitions

Brougham was born in 1954 in

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...

. She began riding horses at age four. Later on, Brougham rode a horse named Vom Feinsten, also called Steiny, who she first met in 2008. Vom Feinsten is a German-bred chestnut horse. Brougham competed in the individual dressage at the

, becoming New Zealand's oldest Olympic competitor at age 62. She was the third-ever New Zealander to compete in dressage at the Olympics. Her score of 68.543 was the best result for any New Zealander at an Olympic grand prix, but was not enough to advance to the next round of competition and she finished 44th. In 2017, Brougham won the grand prix special at the Australian National Championships. In 2018, Brougham won New Zealand's National Dressage Championship, after years of close places. Also in 2018, she competed in the

World Equestrian Games The FEI World Equestrian Games are the major international championships for equestrianism, and are administered by the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI). The games have been held every four years, halfway between sets of consecutive ...

, coming 36th. At the time, she was New Zealand's top dressage rider, and also held the

Australasian Australasian is the adjectival form of Australasia, a geographical region including Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continen ...

record for grand prix musical freestyle. This was despite a horseriding injury in early 2018, which required a

hip replacement Hip replacement is a surgical procedure in which the hip joint is replaced by a prosthetic implant, that is, a hip prosthesis. Hip replacement surgery can be performed as a total replacement or a hemi (half) replacement. Such joint replacement o ...

Cancer

Brougham was diagnosed with abdominal cancer in October 2018. She was hospitalised with complications after the first round of

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemotherap ...

, and had surgeries to remove her

ovaries The ovary is an organ in the female reproductive system that produces an ovum. When released, this travels down the fallopian tube into the uterus, where it may become fertilized by a sperm. There is an ovary () found on each side of the body. T ...

and

fallopian tubes The fallopian tubes, also known as uterine tubes, oviducts or salpinges (singular salpinx), are paired tubes in the human female that stretch from the uterus to the ovaries. The fallopian tubes are part of the female reproductive system. In ot ...

and part of her large bowel. She also had a stoma and collection bag put in, which were permanent. Brougham returned to competition equestrian in September 2019 at the Dressage Central Districts championship show in Palmerston North, and won the event. Brougham said in 2018 that the

Tokyo 2020 Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

was not a target, as she would not put Steiny, who was aged 15 in 2018, through another intense Olympic campaign. After her illness, competing at those Olympics was expected to be out of the question.

Personal life

Brougham was married to David, who is an orthopedic surgeon. They have two adult children. She lived in Karere in the

Manawatū District Manawatū District is a territorial authority district in the Manawatū-Whanganui local government region in the North Island of New Zealand, administered by Manawatū District Council. It includes most of the area between the Manawatū River ...

at her farm, Karere Bells, just south of

. Brougham died from cancer at her home on 9 December 2021, at the age of 67.

References

External links

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Personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brougham, Julie 1954 births 2021 deaths Olympic equestrians for New Zealand Sportspeople from Palmerston North Equestrians at the 2016 Summer Olympics New Zealand female equestrians New Zealand dressage riders Deaths from cancer in New Zealand