Andrew Clifton Nicholson ONZM (born 1 August 1961 in Te Awamutu) is a New Zealand horseman who has competed at six Olympic Games (though selected for seven). Born and raised in the Waikato Nicholson moved to England in the 1980s to further his equestrian career. He currently works there as a horse trainer.
 Andrew Nicholson and Nereo at the Staircase during the cross-country phase of Badminton Horse Trials 2010. | ||
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Equestrian | ||
Representing  New Zealand
| ||
| Olympic Games | ||
 |
1992 Barcelona | Team eventing |
 |
1996 Atlanta | Team eventing |
|
2012 London | Team eventing |
| World Championships | ||
 |
1990 Stockholm | Team eventing |
|
2010 Lexington | Team eventing |
|
2010 Lexington | Individual eventing |
Nicholson's greatest success at international level has been in Three-Day Event Teams. He won a gold medal at the 1990 World Equestrian Games in Stockholm, a silver at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona and a Bronze at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, but he became infamous for his ride on Spinning Rhombus at Barcelona. With the New Zealand team having seven rails in hand to win the Gold medal, his horse knocked down nine rails, instead of withdrawing he kept the New Zealand team intact (his withdrawal would have instantly eliminated the entire team by dropping completing member numbers below the minimum required) to scoop the silver medal behind arch-rivals Australia. Nicholson competed at the 2010 WEG (world equestrian games) and received a bronze medal.
In the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours, Nicholson was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to equestrian sport.[1]
Nicholson and Mark Todd were the first New Zealanders to compete at six Olympic Games.
Nicholson's best individual results have been at Burghley which he has won five times on;
- Buckley Province in 1995,
- Mr Smiffy in 2000,
- Avebury in 2012, 2013 and 2014 consecutively.
After winning Burghley 2012 it set off a winning streak for Nicholson going on to win;
- Pau 2012 with his Olympic mount Nereo,
- Kentucky 2013 on four star debutant Quimbo &
- Lumuhlen 2013 on Mr Cruise Control.
He also won Badminton Horse Trials with Nereo in 2017, after 36 completions.
CCI 5* Results edit
| Results | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event | Kentucky | Badminton | Luhmühlen | Burghley | Pau | Adelaide | ||||||
| 1995 | 13th (Jagermeister II) RET (Spinning Rhombus) |
 (Buckley Province) |
||||||||||
| 1996 | 8th (Buckley Province) 12th (Cartoon II) |
|||||||||||
| 1997 | 32nd (Cartoon II) | |||||||||||
| 1998 | 14th (Cartoon II) 40th (Jagermeister II) |
 (Hinnegar)8th (Merillion) |
||||||||||
| 1999 | did not participate | |||||||||||
| 2000 | (Mr Smiffy) |
|||||||||||
| 2001 | did not participate | |||||||||||
| 2002 | 9th (New York) 10th (Mr Smiffy) |
|||||||||||
| 2003 | 11th (Fenicio) 13th (Mr Smiffy) |
(Lord Killinghurst) |
||||||||||
| 2004 |  (Lord Killinghurst)22nd (Flush Banker) |
(Lord Killinghurst) 16th (Mr Smiffy) |
||||||||||
| 2005 | 5th (Lord Killinghurst) EL (Fenicio) |
14th (Duddles) | (Lord Killinghurst) 8th (Duddles) |
|||||||||
| 2006 | 14th (Lord Killinghurst) | 13th (Henry Tankerville) | ||||||||||
| 2007 | 5th (Lord Killinghurst) 8th (Henry Tankerville) |
4th (Lord Killinghurst) RET (Silbury Hill) |
6th (Ginger May Killinghurst) | |||||||||
| 2008 | RET (Armada) RET (Silbury Hill) |
8th (Armada) RET (Muschamp Impala) |
4th (Henry Tankerville) EL (Muschamp Impala) |
|||||||||
| 2009 | 23rd (Armada) | 21st (Armada) EL (Nereo) |
13th (Armada) EL (Avebury) |
|||||||||
| 2010 | 11th (Nereo) 27th (Avebury) |
4th (Mr Cruise Control) 10th (Armada) |
14th (Armada) 22nd (Avebury) |
9th (Mr Cruise Control) | ||||||||
| 2011 | 10th (Avebury) 12th (Nereo) |
10th (Armada) 14th (Mr Cruise Control) |
(Nereo) 8th (Avebury) |
(Mr Cruise Control) 23rd (Armada) RET (Henry Tankerville) |
||||||||
| 2012 | 7th (Qwanza) RET (Calico Joe) |
4th (Calico Joe) 21st (Shady Grey) 26th (Mr Cruise Control) |
(Avebury) 13th (Calico Joe) |
(Nereo) 7th (Mr Cruise Control) |
, | |||||||
| 2013 | (Quimbo) (Calico Joe) |
(Nereo) 11th (Avebury) |
(Mr Cruise Control) 6th (Rathmoyle King) EL (Qwanza) |
(Avebury) (Nereo) 7th (Calico Joe) |
5th (Mr Cruise Control) 26th (Quimbo) RET (Viscount George) |
|||||||
| 2014 | 21st (Avebury) | RET (Quimbo) EL (Nereo) |
(Avebury) |
|||||||||
| 2015 | 6th (Nereo) 22nd (Calico Joe) |
22nd (Qwanza) | ||||||||||
| 2016 | 5th (Qwanza) 7th (Perfect Stranger) |
(Nereo) |
||||||||||
| 2017 | (Nereo) 12th (Qwanza) |
19th (Teseo) | 8th (Nereo) EL (Qwanza) |
RET (Qwanza) EL (Jet Set) |
||||||||
| 2018 | WD (Nereo) | (Swallow Springs) WD (Jet Set) |
||||||||||
| 2019 | 4th (Swallow Springs) | |||||||||||
| EL = Eliminated; RET = Retired; WD = Withdrew | ||||||||||||
International Championship Results edit
| Results | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Event | Horse | Placing | Notes | ||||||
| 1984 | Olympic Games | Kahlua | 6th | Team | ||||||
| 28th | Individual | |||||||||
| 1990 | World Equestrian Games | Spinning Rhombus |
|
Team | ||||||
| 4th | Individual | |||||||||
| 1992 | Olympic Games | Spinning Rhombus |
|
Team | ||||||
| 16th | Individual | |||||||||
| 1994 | World Equestrian Games | Jager Meister | 6th | Team | ||||||
| 48th | Individual | |||||||||
| 1996 | Olympic Games | Jager Meister |
|
Team | ||||||
| Buckley Province | EL | Individual | ||||||||
| 1998 | World Equestrian Games | New York | 5th | Individual | ||||||
| 2002 | World Equestrian Games | Fenicio | 5th | Team | ||||||
| 9th | Individual | |||||||||
| 2003 | World Cup Final | Fenicio |
|
|||||||
| 2003 | Asian Pacific Games | Duddles |
|
Team | ||||||
| 9th | Individual | |||||||||
| 2004 | World Cup Final | Flush Banker | 14th | |||||||
| 2004 | Olympic Games | Fenicio | 5th | Team | ||||||
| 60th | Individual | |||||||||
| 2006 | World Young Horse Championships | Armada | 23rd | CCI** | ||||||
| 2006 | World Equestrian Games | Lord Killinghurst | 6th | Team | ||||||
| 23rd | Individual | |||||||||
| 2007 | World Young Horse Championships | Mr Cruise Control | 4th | CCI* | ||||||
| Avebury | 4th | CCI** | ||||||||
| Nereo | 41st | CCI** | ||||||||
| 2008 | World Young Horse Championships | Tristar II | 7th | CCI* | ||||||
| Mr Cruise Control | 11th | CCI** | ||||||||
| 2008 | World Cup Final | Henry Tankerville | 26th | |||||||
| 2008 | Olympic Games | Lord Killinghurst | 5th | Team | ||||||
| EL | Individual | |||||||||
| 2009 | World Young Horse Championships | Qwanza | 6th | CCI* | ||||||
| Tristar II | 14th | CCI** | ||||||||
| 2010 | World Young Horse Championships | Quimbo |
|
CCI** | ||||||
| Qwanza | 16th | CCI** | ||||||||
| 2010 | World Equestrian Games | Nereo |
|
Team | ||||||
|
|
Individual | |||||||||
| 2012 | Olympic Games | Nereo |
|
Team | ||||||
| 4th | Individual | |||||||||
| 2013 | World Young Horse Championships | Jet Set |
|
CCI* | ||||||
| Tilikum | 13th | CCI** | ||||||||
| 2014 | World Young Horse Championships | Swallow Springs | 9th | CCI* | ||||||
| Jet Set | 6th | CCI** | ||||||||
| 2014 | World Equestrian Games | Nereo | 14th | Team | ||||||
| 8th | Individual | |||||||||
| 2017 | World Young Horse Championships | As Is | 7th | CCI* | ||||||
| Yacabo BK |
|
CCI** | ||||||||
| EL = Eliminated; RET = Retired; WD = Withdrew | ||||||||||
References edit
- ^ "Queen's Birthday honours list 2018". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 4 June 2018. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
External links edit
- Andrew Nicholson at the New Zealand Olympic Committee
- Andrew Nicholson (and here) at FEI
