Remembering Sydney Olympics with: Matt Ryan & Andrew Hoy

Remembering Sydney 2000 ~ Matt Ryan

Twenty years ago the whole country was looking forward to the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Matt Ryan was part of the amazingly successful third consecutive gold medal winning team, along with Andrew Hoy, Stuart Tinney and Phillip Dutton. We spoke to Matt and Andrew about their memories of that very special time.

Initially I was really worried about the Games. Because they were on home ground I thought there would be too much interference from public, people we knew, press and even family. We had won two Olympic golds previously and here we were heading towards a possible third consecutive gold medal which had never been done before in our sport. I was worried that those people would stop me focusing on what we were there to do. But at Olympics there are specific athlete areas where nobody else can go and that’s really good. It meant I could catch up with friends, family when I wanted to but equally, I could go back to the athlete’s area and nobody could follow. The teams’ sports phycologist was really worried that we were putting too much pressure on ourselves. ‘Don’t aim for history’ we were told but I actually swung all that around the other way. I actually saw it as an opportunity to create history. I’m not sure if the other team members felt the same way but I know I was thinking I would love to be part of history – and that really inspired me. I don’t seem to worry about how much pressure people put on me - I seem to thrive under pressure. As the Olympics got under way, I found myself, after dressage, as the fourth score – I hated that (he laughs). My score wasn’t being counted in the top three. Then after cross country I was still the fourth score – even though it was a brilliant cross country round. Kibah Sand Stone was fantastic and we were only 0.4 over the optimum time but all the other three were inside the time. Our team were still in the lead. But I really hated the fact that I wasn’t in the top three that were being counted and it wasn’t until after the show jumping that I crept up into the top three. So there was a little bit of psychological stuff going on there! Sydney Olympics was the last ‘proper’ long format championships event that included roads and tracks and steeplechase. Are you pleased that you took part in eventing when it was running that way? Yes I think I’m proud I was in that early era. We all know the sport has evolved and not always for the right reasons. Some of those changes were put in there from a political point of view. Basically we were threatened to be kicked out of the Olympics and the IOC told us we had to reduce the cost of our sport. Initially that’s why we lost that part of our sport – at that stage it was nothing to do with making things easier for the horses it was to make it cheaper for the host nations to run three day eventing. That’s how it started and I certainly thought it was good that we stayed in the Olympics. Then the other competitions started to follow that idea because if the Olympics weren’t going to run long format why should we run any events long format. Leading on from that, courses have got shorter and shorter and it’s not the same.

Click on the photo of the gold medal winning team to hear an audio of Matt Ryan describing one of the best moments in his career.

There is definitely a feel now that eventing should come out of the Olympics, because it is bastardizing the sport - that it doesn’t resemble what the sport used to be. I’m really not sure if I’m on that fence line or not … I do know the real skill in getting a horse as fit as you possibly can isn’t as necessary as it used to be and I’m a little disappointed that the TB are not king anymore and the warmbloods are having more of an influence. Is that a good or bad thing – I’m not sure. Certainly a lot of the younger people are struggling to keep their horses fitter these days because they haven’t been brought up with the regime that used to be required to get horses to do that ‘long format’ 3DE event. That skill has certainly dwindled. On a final note have you been teaching anyone in your clinics here in Australia that you think has the talent to win a medal? I see lots of talent – but you never know who is going to get there or not because it takes a lot more than just talent I’m afraid. It’s a lot of dedication, a lot of support from family and friends, sponsors. You can be the most talented rider but that does not mean you will win a medal one day. I used to try and make predictions with horses. People would send me horses asking me if this horse was going to be a medal winning horse. I might have thought well it’s a bit of donkey I’ll see how far it goes and it ends up getting to Olympic level and I’ve had other horses where I’ve thought wow I’m going to win multiple medals with this one and it doesn’t even get to Olympic level for various reasons. There are so many aspects which makes it impossible to make predictions but there is certainly no shortage of talent out there.

... and the crowd went wild!

Remembering Sydney 2000 ~ Andrew Hoy

The standout for me at Sydney was the volunteers and that was all the volunteers, not just the ones involved in equestrian sport. The volunteers really embraced the rest of the world coming to Sydney and I can remember in the bus queues you could hear all these volunteers singing away … they really were absolutely fantastic. I also discovered I had a connection with lots of the equestrian volunteers, whether they were Australian or

When I started waving at the crowd the judges just looked at me as if to say ‘have you gone mad?’

from the other side of the world and that was something so special. Of course, having the Olympic Games in your home country was amazing. I had been based in Europe for seven years prior to Sydney and it was the first time I had returned, with horses, to ride in an international competition. I had two wonderful horses at Sydney in Darien Powers and Swizzle In and was very early on to go in both competitions (individual and team). I think I was third to go on Darien Powers (team,) and second to go with Swizzle In (individual). I remember warming Darien Powers up for the dressage and I could feel the electric atmosphere out there in the stadium and knew they were waiting for me (an Aussie) to ride in. I really wasn’t sure how I was going to deal with that situation, but I decided I would actually ‘ask’ the crowd to start waving and cheering.

“The roar of the crowd during the cross country was immense”

I can remember riding past the judge’s boxes when I started waving at the crowd and the judges just looked at me as if to say ‘have you gone mad?’ I then rode along the side of the arena, across the end and up the other side with the audience cheering and clapping shouting Aussie, Aussie, Aussie Hoy, Hoy, Hoy and then I put my finger up to my mouth as if to say ‘ok now quiet’ and within a moment it went incredibly quiet and you could have heard a pin drop. It was a very educated audience in Sydney and that made it very special. They appreciated being able to show their enthusiasm and then they realised the importance of ‘now was the time to be quiet.’ I can also remember the roar of the crowd during the cross country and show jumping phases was immense. As you jumped each fence and galloped away their cheers followed you. To finish off this amazing experience with a team gold medal was something that we only ever dream about and you never think it’s really going to happen. Of course, we all know there is a medal there to be won and everyone has the opportunity to win it. You just have to be sure to put yourself in that position so you can win it as a team. It was really special to stand there on the dais with the other three guys. There was tremendous pride in that moment and I always say loneliness as well because there are so many people that have contributed to that success that you would love to be standing there with you. But that moment of getting that medal was exceptional. Then to go out with Swizzle in and win an individual silver medal was also just extraordinary. Lots of people talk about the pressure at Sydney because we were on home soil and we also had the opportunity to take home Australia’s third consecutive gold medal. But for me the pressure isn’t really a problem. It’s really about doing things step by step and making sure you put a clear programme in place and that you don’t spend time thinking about things you cannot influence.

Darien Powers and Karen Hughes waiting for the medal ceremony at Sydney. Karen worked for several top riders and groomed for Andrew at countless Championships and Olympic games. She was considered to be the ultimate professional with a passion for the care of ‘her’ horses. Sadly Karen lost her battle with cancer in 2016.

My dad told me when I was young - if you want to be good make sure you have good people around you

The only thing you can influence is your own performance and it’s about focusing on what you need to do. I would say that is one of my very strong points when it comes to major competition in that I seem to have a tremendous ability for just focusing on what I need to do. I also make sure the support team around me are focused on what they need to do. When I say my team, I mean my support team not just the Australian team. It’s important that everyone knows their role and that’s something I have developed over the years. I would say that for me the more major the competition the less pressure I seem to feel. Both my horses at Sydney were special but Darien Powers was something extra special. Maybe being a grey horse helped but he certainly had an aura about him and how do you describe an aura? It was his presence, the way he moved and in a nice way he was aristocratic. He was very gentle, and he knew exactly what his role was. He knew the behaviour that was required, and he was just a true athlete. The way that he would run and gallop would seem to be effortless for him, it wasn’t, but it came across that way. Whether he was doing his dressage test or running round the cross country it appeared effortless … it was just that presence he had. We had been a partnership since 1993 and I can remember thinking ‘gee he’s a tall horse.’ I think the last time I had ridden a horse like that was a horse called Columbus, owned by the Queen and ridden by Mark Phillips. But Columbus was a very strong, powerful horse, who was good to ride once you were in competition but not the sort of horse you could ride around on a loose rein. In comparison Darien Powers was the sort of horse you could ride on a loose rein. When you were galloping along everything seemed to be happening in slow motion and I could either move to a distance or wait for a distance. To this day I can remember being in the start box of the steeplechase at Sydney with the butterflies there and thinking ‘golly gosh you can’t get this wrong’. But I had counted the canter strides from the start box to the first steeplechase fence and there were 18 strides and even now, some 20 years later, I can still remember those 18 strides. Why did I count the canter strides? Well it wasn’t anything to do with wanting to actually know how many strides there were I just wanted to get into the rhythm of the horse because if you get into the rhythm of the horse I know you have the greatest chance of having the best ride you can have.

Darien Powers retired in 2003 to a lovely field at Gatcombe, where I was still based and he enjoyed a pretty good retirement. Sadly, some years later he suffered damage to the tendon above his knee and although it was repaired, he no longer had the mobility he needed so we made the sad, but right decision, to have him euthanised.

Sydney was 20 years ago and I have now been eventing for over 40 years. Did I ever think I would still be doing this 40 years down the track? No I didn’t. I was destined to be a farmer, I studied to be a farmer and that’s what I wanted to do. I went to Agricultural college and was then offered my first (eventing) trip away, the 1978 World Championships in Kentucky and that led to the alternative Olympics in 1980 at Fontainebleau. That trip led to more World Championships and from there more and more things kept unfolding. Did I expect to have ridden in seven Olympic games? No, I didn’t. Again, it was just a step by step thing that happened. I never go out to break my own records I only go out to do the things I enjoy doing and to be the best I can be, the most competitive I can be. I believe that if you go out to break records you can, at times, be very disappointed but, if you go out to enjoy what you’re doing then you can’t really loose. I want to be competitive and I want to deliver the best performance the horse and I can do – that might not always be the winning performance, but if it is a ‘personal best’ for the horse than I am happy about being on the right way. I do believe the older you get the wiser you become, and I certainly have many years on my side, age wise, so hopefully a greater knowledge and experience. On the other hand, being my age it means that many of my coaches these days are younger than myself – apart from Mark Phillips, who is 71 and Nelson Pessoa, who is 84 and still fantastic to work with. Like anything you have your highs and your lows and it’s not always a bed of roses but you just have to keep on looking forward and asking yourself what can I do better. I’m always open to listen to how I could do something better and I tell my team ‘if you’ve got a better idea on doing something and you can convince me it’s better I say we do it your way.’ I’m so privileged to have the people I have around me. My dad told me when I was young – if you want to be good make sure you have good people around you, and I think that is something I have been able to do. My family has brought a new dimension to everything with all of us, as a family, travelling to the competitions. My wife, Stefanie has a strong involvement with the equestrian industry, from a totally different angle, from where I come from. Her knowledge is immense, and we work very well as a unit and a team. (Stefanie runs a sports marketing company, HMC). Eventing is very different from how it was when I first began, and I’m just fascinated with where the sport is at the moment. Looking towards Tokyo I am privileged to have some fantastic horses and very supportive owners and I can’t wait to get back out there again with the horses and our family. I will certainly give it my best to put myself and my horses forward with top performances for Tokyo selection.