Bill Steinkraus

First American to win equestrian gold medal at Olympics

Bill Steinkraus, Olympic show jumping gold medallist, Born: 12 October, 1925 in Cleveland, Ohio. Died: 29 November, 2017 in Darien, Connecticut, aged 92.

Bill Steinkraus, one of America’s most celebrated riders and the country’s first to win an Olympic individual gold medal in any equestrian discipline, has died aged 92.

Steinkraus made six US Olympic teams from 1952 to 1972, only missing the 1964 Tokyo games when his horse became lame. He won his individual gold in show jumping, in Mexico City in 1968, on Snowbound, a nine-year-old gelding.

He also won team silver medals in Rome in 1960 and in Munich in 1972, and a team bronze in 1952 at Helsinki. His American team finished fifth in 1956 in Melbourne, Australia. Steinkraus, a Yale graduate and an accomplished violinist, drew admirers from around the world.

“American riders respected him for his horsemanship, and the Europeans were surprised that someone as cultured, educated and intelligent could be an American rider,” Bertalan de Nemethy, the longtime coach of the US team, once said.

William Clark Steinkraus was born in 1925 in Cleveland and grew up in Westport, Connecticut. He started riding at nine and rode in his first National Horse Show at 12, in a junior class.

During the Second World War he rode in Burma with the US army’s last mounted regiment and helped reopen theburmaroad,animportant supply route for Allied forces.

The US Equestrian Team was formed in 1950, and Steinkraus was picked the following year. He rode for the team for 22 years, 17 as captain, before retiring from international competition in 1972.

In 1960, Steinkraus married Helen Ziegler, a granddaughter of 19th-century industrialist William Ziegler.

He is survived by their three sons, Eric, Philip and Edward.

When not riding, Steinkraus was an editor in book publishing in New York and wrote several books on the sport.

Besides playing the violin, Steinkraus was an expert on old books and antique furniture. After retirement from competition, he was a TV commentator for four Olympics and then an Olympic judge.

For all his Olympic medals, Steinkraus was quick to credit his horses, including Hollandia in Helsinki, Main Spring in Munich and Riviera Wonder in Rome. He said: “The horse is more the athlete. He’s the body and you’re the brain.” © New York Times 2017. Distributed by NYT Syndication Service