About Mark Todd
Sir Mark James Todd (born 1 March 1956) is a New Zealand horseman noted for his accomplishments in the discipline of eventing. He was voted Rider of the 20th century by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports. He won gold medals at the Los Angeles (1984) and Seoul (1988) Olympics, the Badminton Horse Trials on four occasions, and the Burghley Horse Trials five times. As a member of New Zealand's Eventing team, he won gold medals at the World Championships in 1990 and 1998 (Rome), plus 20 or more other international events, and numerous other international individual and team titles. In 1988, he was announced as the New Zealand Sportsperson of the year and winner of the Supreme Halberg Award. In the same year, he was inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame. On 25 April 2011, Todd completed a fourth Badminton victory riding NZB Land Vision, becoming the oldest winner of the event. By winning his fifth Olympic medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Todd equalled the Olympic record established by Hungarian fencer Aladár Gerevich for the longest gap between first and last Olympic medals — 28 years — and shares the record for second-most Olympic medals won by a New Zealander with canoeists Ian Ferguson and Paul MacDonald. The 2016 Games were Todd's seventh, having previously competed in 1984, 1988, 1992, 2000, 2008 and 2012. Todd is the first New Zealander to have competed at seven Olympic Games. In February 2022, a video emerged of Todd repeatedly hitting a horse with a branch for refusing to enter a water obstacle at a training clinic. In 1978, Todd was part of New Zealand's first three-day eventing team to contest a world championship, at Lexington, Kentucky], United States.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.