Julie Brougham Takes Most Senior NZ Olympian Crown

New Zealand dressage rider Julie Brougham will pip Mark Todd to the “elder statesman” record at this summer’s Olympics, Horse & Hound reports.

The New Zealand Olympic committee had said that Todd, 60, would become their most senior Olympian. But it has been revealed that Brougham, who will make her Olympic debut in Rio, edges him by “a year or so”.

“It’s an age old issue of whether you should ask a lady her age … well, in keeping with those manners it transpires Sir Mark Todd may not be the oldest in the New Zealand Olympic team after all,” the committee said.

Brougham, 62, will become the third New Zealander in the history of the Olympics to compete in the dressage.

She rides her own and her husband David’s Vom Feinsten, a 13-year-old chestnut gelding with whom she holds the Australasian grand prix freestyle record.

“I had tried to keep my age on the down low, but hey, now I’m an Olympian I may as well embrace it,” Brougham said.

Todd added: “I did quite enjoy being the elder statesman of the team, but am happy to concede.”

Brougham and Todd are joined by eventers Jonelle Price, Clarke Johnstone, Jock Paget and reserve Tim Price as the New Zealand equestrian squad heading to the Olympics.

Original article by Lucy Elder, Horse & Hound, July 2, 2016.