| William Fox-Pitt MBE | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 William Fox-Pitt and Chilli Morning,Badminton Horse Trials, 2015 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | William Speed Lane Fox-Pitt | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality |  Great Britain | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Discipline | Eventing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1969-01-02)2 January 1969 (age 56) Hampstead,London, England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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William Speed Lane Fox-PittMBE[1] (born 2 January 1969) is anEnglishequestrian who competes ineventing. His career highlights include winning threeOlympic medals in the team event, with silver in2004 and2012, and bronze in2008.[2] At theWorld Equestrian Games, he won team gold and individual silver in2010, and team silver and individual bronze in2014. He also won World team medals in 2002 and 2006. At theEuropean Championships, 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 differentfive-star events,[3] having won theBurghley Horse Trials a record six times (1994, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2011),Rolex Kentucky three times (2010, 2012, 2014),Stars of Pau twice (2011, 2013), theBadminton Horse Trials twice (2004, 2015), and theLuhmühlen Horse Trials 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 the2016 Summer Olympics. He was appointedMember of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the2018 Birthday Honours.[4]
Fox-Pitt was born inHampstead, 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 asFox-Pitt Kelton Cochran Caronia Waller.[5] Oliver and Marietta were both equestrian competitors, riding at Badminton and Burghley, and his siblings have been very successful as well.[6] His paternal grandfather wasMajor-General "Billy" Fox-PittDSO MC a Dorset landowner who served in both World Wars and was a founding officer of theWelsh Guards.[7][8]
Fox-Pitt was educated atWellesley House School inKent,Eton College and theGoldsmiths, University of London.[9]
Fox-Pitt began riding at age four. At 13, he stopped riding because he feared he would be bullied by his peers.
He is married to former eventer and currentITV Racing presenterAlice Plunkett. They have four children.[10]
He is the recordman of CCI*****'s winner with 14 titles. He is also the only rider to have 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 theBurghley Horse Trials;[11] William's victories coming in 1994, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2011. Additional major wins have been at theBadminton Horse Trials in 2004 and again in 2015, atGatcombe Park 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 silver at the 2021 Nations Cup in Boekelo, 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 toChannel 4 Racing presenterAlice Plunkett. 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.
In theeventing world, one of his best known partnerships is with the horseTamarillo.
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.[12] He was the only remaining member of the 2012 team who won silver inLondon 2012.[13]
On 12th May 2024, 35 years after he first competed atBadminton Horse Trials, William announced that this years Badminton would be his last.[14]
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1997
1996
1995
1994
1993
1990
1989
1988
1987
1985
| Results | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event | Kentucky (USA) late April | Badminton (UK) early May | Luhmühlen (Germany) June | Burghley (UK) early September | Maryland (USA) mid-October | Pau (France) late October | Adelaide (Australia) early November | |||||
| 1993 | 7th (Chaka) | Event first held in 2021 | ||||||||||
| 1994 |  (Chaka) | |||||||||||
| 1997 |  (Cosmopolitan II) | |||||||||||
| 2001 | 9th (Springleaze Macaroo) | |||||||||||
| 2002 | 4th (Stunning) |  (Tamarillo) | (Highland Lad)7th (Moon Man) | |||||||||
| 2003 | (Moon Man) | 22nd (Highland Lad) | 28th (Ballin Coola) | |||||||||
| 2004 | 4th (Ballin Coola)11th (Coastal Ties) | (Tamarillo) | 11th (Ballin Coola) | |||||||||
| 2005 | (Tamarillo)RET (Ballin Coola) | (Ballin Coola) | ||||||||||
| 2006 | RET (Mr Dumbledore) EL (Coup De Coeur) | 9th (Ballin Coola) WD (Tamarillo) | 11th (Birthday Night) | 6th (Ballin Coola) 19th (Idalgo Du Donjon) | ||||||||
| 2007 | (Parkmore Ed)5th (Ballin Coola) | |||||||||||
| 2008 | (Ballin Coola)18th (Tamarillo) | (Macchiato) | (Tamarillo) (Ballin Coola) | 11th (Idalgo Du Donjon) | ||||||||
| 2009 | 6th (Seacookie TSF)23rd (Navigator) | (Idalgo Du Donjon)5th (Macchiato) | 8th (Seacookie TSF)RET (Macchiato) | 17th (Macchiato) | ||||||||
| 2010 | (Cool Mountain) | 34th (Macchiato) WD (Seacookie TSF) | (Seacookie TSF)6th (Macchiato) | (Navigator) | ||||||||
| 2011 | 4th (Neuf Des Coeurs) | 13th (Cool Mountain) 15th (Navigator) | 9th (Macchiato) | (Parklane Hawk) 18th (Neuf Des Coeurs) | (Oslo)
25th (Macchiato) | |||||||
| 2012 | (Parklane Hawk) | (Parklane Hawk) RET (Seacookie TSF) | 4th (Bay My Hero)5th (Chilli Morning) | |||||||||
| 2013 | (Seacookie TSF) RET (Chilli Morning) | 5th (Parklane Hawk)52rd (Oslo) | (Neuf Des Coeurs) 4th (Lionheart) | (Parklane Hawk) RET (Neuf Des Coeurs) | (Seacookie TSF)
15th (Neuf Des Coeurs) | |||||||
| 2014 | (Bay My Hero) 9th (Seacookie TSF) | EL (Parklane Hawk) WD (Cool Mountain) | WD (Cool Mountain) | 4th (Bay My Hero) | WD (Parklane Hawk) RET (Seacookie TSF) | |||||||
| 2015 | 4th (Bay My Hero) | (Chilli Morning) | 10th (Fernhill Pimms) | |||||||||
| 2016-17 | Did Not Participate | |||||||||||
| 2018 | RET (Fernhill Pimms) | Event first held in 2021 | EL (Little Fire) | |||||||||
| 2019 | 8th (Little Fire) 12th (Oratorio) | |||||||||||
| 2020 | Cancelled due to COVID-19 | Cancelled due to COVID-19 | Cancelled due to COVID-19 | Cancelled due to COVID-19 | Cancelled due to COVID-19 | |||||||
| 2021 | EL(Oratorio) | Cancelled due to COVID-19 | Cancelled due to COVID-19 ("replaced" byBicton 5*: RET (Oratorio II)) | 22th (Little Fire) 27th (Oratorio) | Cancelled due to COVID-19 | |||||||
| 2022 | 13th (Little Fire) 14th (Oratorio) | RET (Oratorio) | ||||||||||
| 2023 | 14th (Grafennacht) | (Grafennacht) | ||||||||||
| EL = Eliminated; RET = Retired; WD = Withdrew | ||||||||||||
| Results | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Event | Horse | Placing | Notes | ||||||
| 1987 | European Junior Championships | Steadfast | | Individual | ||||||
| 1989 | European Young Rider Championships | Steadfast | | Team | ||||||
| 4th | Individual | |||||||||
| 1990 | European Young Rider Championships | Steadfast | | Team | ||||||
| 4th | Individual | |||||||||
| 1995 | European Championships | Cosmopolitan II | | Team | ||||||
| 5th | Individual | |||||||||
| 1996 | Olympic Games | Cosmopolitan II | 5th | Team | ||||||
| 1997 | European Championships | Cosmopolitan II | | Team | ||||||
| Individual | |||||||||
| 2001 | European Championships | Stunning | | Team | ||||||
| 6th | Individual | |||||||||
| 2002 | World Equestrian Games | Tamarillo | | Team | ||||||
| 14th | Individual | |||||||||
| 2003 | European Championships | Moon Man | | Team | ||||||
| 8th | Individual | |||||||||
| 2004 | Olympic Games | Tamarillo | | Team | ||||||
| RET | Individual | |||||||||
| 2004 | World Young Horse Championships | Gidran Sohaj | 18th | CCI** | ||||||
| Jass de la Fosse | 22nd | CCI** | ||||||||
| 2005 | World Cup Final | Ballin Coola | 4th | |||||||
| 2005 | European Championships | Tamarillo | | Team | ||||||
| Individual | |||||||||
| 2006 | World Equestrian Games | Tamarillo | | Team | ||||||
| 15th | Individual | |||||||||
| 2006 | World Young Horse Championships | Chuckelberry | WD | CCI** | ||||||
| 2008 | World Cup Final | Kaleidoscope | RET | |||||||
| 2008 | Olympic Games | Parkmore ED | | Team | ||||||
| 12th | Individual | |||||||||
| 2008 | World Young Horse Championships | Oslo | | CCI* | ||||||
| Neuf des Coeurs | 12th | CCI** | ||||||||
| 2009 | European Championships | Idalgo du Donjon | | Team | ||||||
| 4th | Individual | |||||||||
| 2009 | World Young Horse Championships | Oslo | | CCI** | ||||||
| 2010 | World Equestrian Games | Cool Mountain | | Team | ||||||
| Individual | |||||||||
| 2010 | World Young Horse Championships | Fernhill Highlight | 4th | CCI** | ||||||
| Bay My Hero | 6th | CCI** | ||||||||
| 2011 | European Championships | Cool Mountain | | Team | ||||||
| 7th | Individual | |||||||||
| 2012 | Olympic Games | Lionheart | | Team | ||||||
| 27th | Individual | |||||||||
| 2013 | European Championships | Chilli Morning | 6th | Team | ||||||
| Individual | |||||||||
| 2013 | World Young Horse Championships | Top Baits | WD | CCI* | ||||||
| Luxury F H | WD | CCI** | ||||||||
| Henton For Fun | WD | CCI** | ||||||||
| 2014 | World Equestrian Games | Chilli Morning | | Team | ||||||
| Individual | |||||||||
| 2015 | European Championships | Bay My Hero | | Team | ||||||
| RET | Individual | |||||||||
| 2015 | World Young Horse Championships | Reinstated | EL | CCI** | ||||||
| The Soapdodger | WD | CCI** | ||||||||
| 2016 | Olympic Games | Chilli Morning | 5th | Team | ||||||
| 12th | Individual | |||||||||
| 2019 | World Young Horse Championships | Grafennacht | 4th | CCI*** | ||||||
| 2021 | FEI Nations Cup | Grafennacht | 2nd | CCI**** | ||||||
| EL = Eliminated; RET = Retired; WD = Withdrew | ||||||||||
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