William Speed Lane Fox-Pitt (born 2 January 1969) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: * Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes i ...

who competes in

eventing Eventing (also known as three day eventing or horse trials) is an equestrian event where a single horse and rider combine and compete against other competitors across the three disciplines of dressage, cross-country, and show jumping. Thi ...

. His career highlights include winning three

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

medals in the team event, with silver in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

and

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, and bronze in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

. At 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 ...

, he won team gold and individual silver in

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, and team silver and individual bronze in

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. He also won World team medals in 2002 and 2006. At the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

, he has won six team gold medals, as well as Individual silver in 1997 and 2005, and Individual bronze in 2013. He is the recordman CCI*****'s winner with 14 grand slam titles. In 2011, he became the first rider to win five different five-star events, having won the

Burghley Horse Trials The Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials is an annual three-day event held at Burghley House near Stamford, Lincolnshire, England, currently in early September. Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials is classified by the FEI as one of the six leading th ...

a record six times (1994, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2011), Rolex Kentucky three times (2010, 2012, 2014),

Stars of Pau A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth ma ...

twice (2011, 2013), the

Badminton Horse Trials The Badminton Horse Trials is a eventing, five-day event, one of only six annual Concours Complet International, Concours Complet International (CCI) Five Star events as classified by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports, Fédér ...

twice (2004, 2015), and the

Luhmühlen Horse Trials The Luhmühlen Horse Trials are an annual equestrian eventing competition held in Luhmühlen, Salzhausen, Germany. Riders compete at the highest level: the CCI*****. There are only six events of this kind in the world, the others being the Bad ...

once (2008). A serious fall in 2015 left him in a coma for two weeks, but he came back to make the British eventing team and attend 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 ...

. He was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the

2018 Birthday Honours The 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as p ...

Family background and education

Fox-Pitt was born in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

, the eldest son of William Oliver Lane Fox-Pitt (1932-2012, known as Oliver) and Marietta Speed. His father competed in many sports, and in addition had a career in the city, founding an investment bank now known as

Fox-Pitt Kelton Cochran Caronia Waller Fox-Pitt Kelton Cochran Caronia Waller (formerly Fox-Pitt, Kelton or FPK) was an investment bank focused on mergers and acquisitions advisory services, private placements of debt and equity as well as equity research. FPK specialised in transacti ...

. Oliver and Marietta were both equestrian competitors, riding at Badminton and Burghley, and his siblings have been very successful as well. His paternal grandfather was Major-General "Billy" Fox-Pitt a Dorset landowner who served in both World Wars and was a founding officer of the

Welsh Guards The Welsh Guards (WG; cy, Gwarchodlu Cymreig), part of the Guards Division, is one of the Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. It was founded in 1915 as a single-battalion regiment, during the First World War, by Royal Warrant of George V ...

. Fox-Pitt was educated at

Wellesley House School Wellesley House School is an independent day and boarding preparatory school in the coastal town of Broadstairs in the English county of Kent. Founded in 1866, it educates boys and girls aged 3 to 13. History The history of Wellesley House Sch ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

and the

Goldsmiths, University of London Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wor ...

. Fox-Pitt began riding at age four. At 13, he stopped riding because he feared he would be bullied by his peers. With the encouragement of his parents, Fox-Pitt began his outstanding career in eventing at the age of 15. He is married to former eventer and current

ITV Racing ''ITV Racing'' is a programme produced by ITV Sport for races shown on ITV or ITV4 in the United Kingdom. The programme is referred to as ''Racing on STV'' in Northern and Central Scotland on STV. In its previous incarnation, the show was an ...

presenter

Alice Plunkett Alice Plunkett (also known by her married name, Alice Fox-Pitt) is a former eventer and National Hunt jockey and current presenter on ITV Racing in the UK. She is the only female to have ridden at both Badminton Horse Trials and over the Grand N ...

. They have four children: Oliver, Thomas, Chloe, and Emily.

Sporting career

He is the recordman CCI*****'s winner with 14 titles. He is also the only rider to won 5 out of the six CCI*****'s having won Burghley (1994, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2011), Badminton (2004 & 2015), Pau (2011, 2013), Kentucky (2010, 2012, 2014) and Luhmuhlen (2008). He holds the record for the most wins (six) at the

; William's victories coming in 1994, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2011. Additional major wins have been at the

in 2004 and again in 2015, at

Gatcombe Park Gatcombe Park is the country residence of Anne, Princess Royal, between the villages of Minchinhampton (to which it belongs) and Avening in Gloucestershire, England. Built in the late 18th century to the designs of George Basevi, it is a ...

in 1995, 2000, 2003 and 2005. Team golds in European Championships in 1995, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2009. He took individual silver at the 1997 Europeans, team bronze at the 2002 and 2011 Europeans, individual silver at the 2005 Europeans, team silver at the 2006 Aachen World Equestrian Games, team gold at the 2010 World Equestrian Games, individual bronze at the 2013 Europeans, team silver and individual bronze at the 2014 World Equestrian Games, and team silver at the 2015 Europeans. He also represented Great Britain at the (1996 Summer Olympics/Atlanta), (2004 Summer Olympics/Athens), (2008 Summer Olympics/Beijing), (2012 Summer Olympics/London) and (2016 Summer Olympics/Rio), winning team silver in Athens, team bronze in Beijing and team silver in London. In 2006 he was ranked the leading rider in Britain for the sixth year running and 2nd in the world, and as of 2014 he was ranked 1st in the world. William is married to

Channel 4 Racing ''Channel 4 Racing'' was the name given to the horse racing coverage on the British television stations Channel 4 and More4. History The first transmission of racing on the channel was on 22 March 1984 from Doncaster, as it took over midweek cov ...

presenter

. They have two sons; Oliver (born in August 2005) and Thomas (born 15 November 2006), and two daughters; Chloe (born October 2012) and Emily (born September 2014). William is a regular columnist in the weekly equestrian magazine, ''

Horse & Hound ''Horse & Hound'' is the oldest equestrian weekly magazine of the United Kingdom. Its first edition was published in 1884. The magazine contains horse industry news, reports from equestrian events, veterinary advice about caring for horses, and h ...

''. In the

world, one of his best known partnerships is with the horse

Tamarillo The tamarillo (''Solanum betaceum'') is a small tree or shrub in the flowering plant family Solanaceae (the nightshade family). It is best known as the species that bears the tamarillo, an egg-shaped edible fruit. It is also known as the tree ...

. In October 2015, a fall at a competition in France left him in a coma for two weeks. After regaining consciousness, he had initial trouble with blindness and then double vision, but was ultimately able to earn a spot on the British team for the 2016 Olympics and returned to international competition with the stallion Chilli Morning. He was the only remaining member of the team who won silver in

London 2012 The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

.The Telegraph: William Fox-Pitt completes stunning recovery to claim Rio 2016 place
/ref>

Career highlights

William fox pitt idalgo hillside badminton 2009

William Fox Pitt and Before Time at the Ice Pond at Chatsworth 2013

2019 *1st Tattersalls Horse Trials CCI*** (Georgisaurous) *2nd Festival of British Eventing Novice Championships (Grafennacht) 2018 *2nd Blenheim Palace Horse Trials CCI*** (Oratorio II) *2nd Tattersalls Horse Trials CCI*** (Little Fire) 2017 *1st Barbury Horse Trials CIC*** (Clifton Signature) 2016 *12th Individual at the Summer Olympics in Rio (Chilli Morning) 2015 * Team Silver at the European Championships in Scotland (Bay My Hero) *1st

CCI**** (Chilli Morning) *4th

Rolex Kentucky Three Day The Kentucky Three-Day Event, currently the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event due to sponsorship, is an eventing competition held at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky. Land Rover Kentucky is a CCI5*-L eventing competition. Five st ...

CCI**** (Bay My Hero) 2014 *FEI World number 1 eventing rider * Individual Bronze and Team Silver at the World Equestrian Games in France (Chilli Morning) *1st

CCI**** (Bay My Hero) *9th

CCI**** (Seacookie) 2013 *1st

CCI **** (Seacookie) *3rd

CCI **** (Cool Mountain) * Individual Bronze at the European Championship in Sweden (Chilli Morning) *3rd

CCI **** (Neuf des Coeurs) *4th

CCI **** (Lionheart) *1st

Bramham Horse Trials Bramham International Horse Trials is one of the Europe's leading three-day events, taking place every June at Bramham Park, near Wetherby in West Yorkshire. The event attracts around 60,000 spectators over four days of competition.Official figu ...

CCI***(Chilli Morning) *5th

CCI **** (Parklane Hawk) *2nd

CCI **** (Seacookie) 2012 *FEI World number 1 eventing rider *1st

CCI***(Chilli Morning) *1st

CCI **** (Parklane Hawk) *Team Silver at the Summer Olympics in London (Lionheart) 2011 * Team Bronze at the European Championships in Luhmuhlen (Cool Mountain) *1st

CCI **** (Parklane Hawk) *1st

CCI **** (Oslo) 2010 *FEI World number 1 eventing rider *1st

CCI **** (Cool Mountain) * Team Gold and Individual Silver at FEI World Equestrian Games Kentucky (Cool Mountain) 2009 * Team Gold at the European Championships in France (Idalgo) 2008 *FEI World number 1 eventing rider *1st

CCI **** (

) *2nd

CCI **** (Ballincoola) *3rd

CCI **** (Ballincoola) *1st

CCI*** (Navigator) *1st

CCI **** (Macchiato) *Team Bronze at the Summer Olympics in Beijing 2007 *1st

CCI*** (Macchiato) *1st

CCI **** (Parkmore Ed) *1st Blair CCI*** (Macchiato) *5th

CCI **** (Ballincoola) 2006 *9th

CCI **** (Ballincoola) *11th

CCI **** (Birthday Night) *1st Hartpary CCI*** (Moon Man) *15th Aachen WEG **** (

) *3rd

Blenheim Horse Trials {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022 The Blenheim Horse Trials is an annual international three-day event held in the park of Blenheim Palace, at Woodstock, England. It is rated CCI*** (the second highest level of eventing). Blenheim began in 1990, ...

CCI*** (Parkmore Ed) *6th

CCI **** (Ballincoola) 2005 *1st

CCI **** (Ballincoola) *1st Boekelo Horse Trials CCI*** (Mr. Dumbledore) *2nd

CCI **** (

) *1st

CCI*** (Mr. Dumbledore) *2nd

CCI*** (Idalgo) *1st Gatcombe British Open (Moon Man) *Team gold and individual silver at the European Championships (

) *Winner of the British Eventing Premier League 2004 *1st

CCI **** (

) *4th

CCI **** (Ballincoola) *7th Fontainebleau (Stunning) *Team silver at the Athens Olympics (

) 2003 *5th Le Lion d’Angers (Idalgo) *8th Le Lion d’Angers (Igor de Cluis) *1st Boekelo (Tom Cruise) *Team gold and 8th individual European Championships,

Punchestown Punchestown Racecourse is located in the parish of Eadestown, between the R410 and R411 regional roads near Naas, County Kildare, in Ireland. It is known as the home of Irish Jumps Racing and plays host to the annual Punchestown Irish Nationa ...

, Ireland (Moon Man) *1st CIC World Cup Qualifier, Thirlestane Castle (Stunning) *1st British Open Championships, Gatcombe Park (Stunning) *2nd British Open Championships, Gatcombe Park (Moon Man) *1st British Intermediate Championships, Gatcombe Park (Tom Cruise II) *1st

CIC *** (Tom Cruise II) *1st

CCI *** (Wallow) *2nd

CCI *** (Ballincoola) *7th Saumur (Coastal Ties) *1st Chatsworth CIC World Cup Qualifier (Stunning) *3rd

CCI **** (Moon Man) 2002 *FEI World number 1 eventing rider *Team bronze World Equestrian Games, Jerez, Spain (

) *1st

CCI **** (Highland Lad) *7th

CCI **** (Moon Man) *4th Boekelo (Stunning) *3rd British Open Championships, Gatcombe Park (Moon Man) *4th British Open Championships, Gatcombe Park (Stunning) *4th

CCI **** (Stunning) *2nd

CCI **** (

) *6th

CCI *** (Highland Lad) *8th

CCI *** (Just A Sovereign) 2001 *5th and Team gold European Champs, Pau, France (Stunning) *4th Bonn Roderberg CCIO (Barclay Square) *4th Saumur (Stunning) *9th

CCI **** (Springleaze Macaroo) 2000 *1st British Open Champs, Gatcombe Park (Moon Man) *1st

CCI *** (Stunning) *2nd

CCI *** (

) 1999 *2nd Achselschwang (Moon Man) *7th

CCI *** (Moon Man) 1997 *Individual silver and Team gold European Open Championships, Burghley (Cosmopolitan II) *2nd Scottish Open Championships, Thirlestane Castle (Cosmopolitan II) *3rd

CCI **** (Cosmopolitan II) 1996 *5th Olympic Games Team Competition, Atlanta, USA (Cosmopolitan II) *6th

CCI *** (Lismore Lord Charles) *5th Boekelo (Mostly Mischief) 1995 *6th and Team gold European Open Championships, Pratoni del Vivaro, Italy (Cosmopolitan II) *1st

CCI *** (Cosmopolitan II) *1st British Open Championships, Gatcombe Park (Chaka) *6th

CCI *** (Loch Alan) *5th Boekelo (Faerie Diadem) 1994 *1st

CCI **** (Chaka) *2nd Scottish Open Championships, Thirlestane Castle (Chaka) *7th Punchestown (Thomastown) *2nd British Open Championships, Gatcombe Park (Chaka) 1993 *7th

CCI **** (Chaka) 1990 *4th and Team gold Young Rider European Championships (Steadfast) *3rd Young Rider National Championships (Faerie Sovereign) 1989 *Individual bronze and Team silver Young Rider European Championships, Achselschwang, Germany 1988 *4th and Team gold Young Rider European Championships, Zonhoven, Belgium (Steadfast) 1987 *Individual silver Junior European Championships, Pratoni del Vivaro, Italy (Steadfast) *5th Junior National Championships 1985 *8th Junior National Championships 1985

Partial CCI5* Results

International Championship results

Gallery

References

External links

William Fox-Pitt Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fox-Pitt, William British event riders People educated at Eton College Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London 1969 births Living people Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Equestrians at the 1996 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 2004 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 2008 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 2012 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic equestrians of Great Britain British male equestrians Olympic medalists in equestrian Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Members of the Order of the British Empire