Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
All geed up after toughest fight
Three-day event rider William FoxPitt thought he would never make another Olympic Games.
Less than a year ago, the Kent-raised London 2012 team silver medallist was in an induced coma after a serious head injury and his family were wondering if he would survive.
A month later, when he had woken, Fox-pitt then questioned if he would ever ride again.
This week he is preparing to begin his fifth Olympic campaign seeking to add to his haul of three medals when the Rio equestrian competition begins on Saturday.
The 47-year-old – who grew up at Knowlton Court, near Goodnestone – fell from his mount at the 2015 World Young Horse Championships in Le Lion-d’angers, France, last October.
He spent a month in an induced coma before being transferred back to the UK and although the fall affected his sight and judgement, doctors gave him the all-clear to resume competition in March.
He said: “Having the Olympics and the horses has helped in my rehab. It’s given me a drive to get my brain back, my body back and to be aiming for something.
“I lost so much fitness that it wasn’t just about riding, it was actually that I could hardly walk to the stables, let alone ride a horse when I got there.
“I’ve been so lucky. I feel fine now but I know I’m not completely 100%, I am improving still. My memory is getting better, I am getting fitter.
“I always thought I would be OK for Rio but even a few months ago I wasn’t. It’s been quite a long journey, quite adventurous and certainly my eyesight went.
“That has come back. My balance had gone and things took a long time to re-establish. I hadn’t anticipated any of that. The ophthalmologist was told that my eyesight would take a year but he got it back in four months.”
Fox-pitt will ride Chilli Morning in Rio where the six-time European team champion will be joined by Pippa Funnell and Olympic newcomers Kitty King and Gemma Tattersall.
He first competed in the team event at Atlanta in 1996, missed Sydney in 2000 but claimed silver in Athens in 2004 and bronze in Beijing four years later before silver at London.
He added: “I have got a good horse and he is on good form and he could go well. If it went to plan, then he could be up there.
“He has won bronze medals before and it would be a dream to win a gold one but it is not an expectation. It is a competitive Olympic Games.”