Andrew Hoy is heading to a record eighth Olympic Games, and he won’t be there just to make up the numbers. Riding Vassily de Lassos, one of the most talented horses he’s ever had, Andrew hopes the best is yet to come.

Named as a member of the Australian team for Tokyo, alongside Chris Burton, Shane Rose and Stuart Tinney (travelling reserve), Andrew Hoy, 62, has again made history by competing at the most Olympics ever by an Australian — beating his own record of seven that he set when he attended London in 2012.

“To represent Australia at international level over so many years has been the greatest privilege and honour of my life,” says Andrew. “I have never set out to break records on my number of Olympic Games participations – I am just a country boy from Culcairn who loves his horses, has a huge passion for our sport and thrives on being competitive at the top end. There is nothing that beats the feeling of wearing the green and gold and being part of a team of incredible athletes – going onto the biggest sporting stage in the world – and all wanting to make Australia proud.”

From a childhood spent in the saddle chasing sheep and cattle on the family farm, Andrew has forged a career in a tough industry where working hard and having the tenacity to push on — even when the chips are down — is integral to success.

Andrew’s Olympic record spans more than 40 years and began in 1980 when he was selected for the Moscow Olympics; when Australia decided to boycott, the team went to the ‘Alternative Olympics’ in Fontainebleau, France, where they took home the bronze medal. His first official Olympic appearance came in 1984 when he competed in Los Angeles as a 25-year-old, riding his Pony Club horse Davey. It was then on to Seoul in 1988 and Barcelona in 1992 with Kiwi; in Barcelona, it was the first of a historic three team gold medals, followed by Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney in 2000 where on both occasions he rode the iconic grey Darien Powers. Anyone who watched the final jumping phase at Sydney will recall the adoring home crowd chanting ‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Hoy, Hoy, Hoy’. Following the team’s memorable victory, Andrew became the first Australian other than swimmer Dawn Fraser to win three gold medals in a row. He also took home individual silver (the individual event was run separately), riding Swizzle In.

Further Olympic appearances followed at Athens in 2004, and London in 2012 — and in doing so he became the first Australian to compete at seven Olympic Games, a record that is now superseded by the announcement of the Tokyo team.

LONGEVITY IN AN EVOLVING SPORT

Only three athletes will have participated at more Games throughout their 125-year history than Andrew. From a 25-year-old Olympic debutant, to just being announced on his eighth team, Andrew explains that his ability to continue competing at the highest level has not just been about listening and learning throughout his career, but figuring out how to activate good advice — and surrounding himself with great people.

“I’ve always wanted to learn, I’ve always listened to people. It’s one thing to listen to people and take their advice; it’s another thing to activate on it. It’s the process of learning; first of all you have to hear, secondly then you have to process that in your mind as to whether it’s going to work or not work, or how you can make it work, and then the third thing is the activation. I think the activation is always very difficult, and that’s where you need great assistance. I think that’s something that I’ve been able to achieve quite well,” says Andrew.

“The one thing is that I can remember my father saying to me when I was very young was, ‘If you want to be good, make sure you place good people around you’. I think that in placing good people around you, they guide you in a good way — but you’ve also got to be able to have the ability to make sure that you can do the activation in the correct way.”

The sport of eventing has changed dramatically over the decades, not just in terms of its Olympic format — Tokyo will be the first year with teams of three and no ‘drop score’ — but also in how the discipline itself is run, from the removal of roads and tracks and the steeplechase phases from cross country day, through to the scrapping of the dressage coefficient. For Andrew, the sport’s evolution is just part and parcel of being an elite athlete.

“There are always rule changes, and the sport’s always changing. It’s not about trying to fight the system. It’s about just thinking, ‘Okay, well, so what do I have to do now to be successful?’ You’ve always got to be positive, whereas often with rule changes and changes in sport, structure and things like that, people say, ‘Oh, look, this is not going to work’. They find the nine reasons why it can’t work as opposed to the one reason how it can work.”

Andrew says he’s privileged to have been part of all the changes the sport has seen, and to do so whilst being able to remain at the top level. “I’ve had some wonderful performances; it’s just great to have been able to do it and experience it.”

And, of course, as Andrew points out, it’s only possible to continue competing at the top level — and contest an eighth Olympic Games — if you have the right horses. “All of this is horsepower related, because it doesn’t matter how good a horse person you are, if you do not have the correct horsepower underneath you then you will never be successful.

“I just love working with the horses; I love working with their personalities and their abilities and seeing how a horse can do something the easiest possible way and in a good manner. Throughout the changes to the sport, I’ve just been able to find very good horses, and also I’ve been able to have the support of very good owners — like the owners of Vassily de Lassos, David and Paula Evans. They are just wonderful support and so it’s a complete partnership.

“Working with everyone, from my horses’ owners to my support staff, is so important. I think any athlete, you have your highs and your lows, and how you come back from the lows is where the strength is. And that’s something that I’ve just been able to achieve over the years.”

THE GINGER UNICORN

Andrew has had some amazing horses throughout his career to date, and he considers Vassily de Lassos — ‘the ginger unicorn’ — to be right up there with the best of them. The 12-year-old Selle Français Anglo-Arab gelding, by Jaguar Mail out of Illusion Perdue (Jalienny), was originally produced to (old format) two-star level by French rider Thomas Carlile, and joined Andrew’s team in May 2017.

The Selle Francais Anglo-Arab is certainly not a breed commonly seen competing in Australia, however, they often appear in the showjumping ring in Europe and to a lesser extent the eventing circuit. “A lot of people haven’t gone down that line, but it’s something that along with my wife, Stefanie, we’ve looked at the breed of horses that have been successful over recent years, and tried to study that,” explains Andrew. “That’s why we decided to go down that line. And then in doing that, we found Vassily, who is just a very, very, very special horse.”

When Equestrian Life interviewed Andrew at the end of 2017, Vassily de Lassos had just completed his first (old format) three-star, and Andrew said: “He is a horse that’s going to be, I think, very good”. Fast-forward to 2018 and the pair finished on their dressage score at the World Equestrian Games in Tryon — becoming one of only seven horses since the inaugural WEG in 1990 to do so. They finished in fourth place, a mere 2.5 penalties off the individual bronze medal. Now, they are off to Tokyo.

Andrew says the horse’s best attributes are his mind, his jump and his ability to run. “He is an extremely clever horse and, being an Anglo-Arab, he is also very agile. He is an outstanding talent and is proficient in all three phases, making him a fierce competitor and an absolute delight to ride.”

Heading towards Tokyo now as a 12-year-old, Vassily is arguably in the best form of his life; he and Andrew recently finished on a personal-best dressage score of 27.6 in the CCI4*S at Luhmühlen, placing third behind two combinations that have since been named on the German Olympic team. “Vassily and I have just the most wonderful partnership. At Luhmühlen, it was just as if it were a schooling round for us, and so just absolutely fantastic.”

Andrew believes that Vassily is the perfect horse for the conditions in Tokyo. “I think he’s going to be absolutely fantastic, because the competition no doubt is going to be very strong. I think that he is going to cope with the weather conditions really well. It was very warm in Germany (at Luhmühlen); it was 34 degrees. I don’t know what the humidity was — not as high as what Tokyo’s going to be — but it would have been higher than what a normal summer’s day would be in Australia. So for me it was the perfect weather conditions for a pre-Tokyo competition.”

AN EIGHTH GAMES, BUT ALSO A FIRST

Tokyo might be Andrew’s eighth Olympic Games, but it will be his first as a father following the arrival of daughter Philippa in 2017 and son Oscar in 2019 with his wife, Stefanie.

“It’s just wonderful, albeit Oscar is only one-and-a-half and he’s probably more interested in tractors than what I’m doing at the moment, but that’s absolutely fine!” laughs Andrew. Philippa, on the other hand, is only too happy to dish out training tips. “Philippa, she’s doing a little bit of riding and just loves being with the horses. She either tells me I’m not going fast enough or that I was really good. So that’s comforting that I have an educated eye watching me. She often tells me I don’t go fast enough in the dressage, so that’s something quite interesting!

“Having children, it’s a very special moment in my life, I have to say, and only when you have children do you appreciate what they can bring, and also the challenges that they can bring to your life as well, but I would not change it for anything.”

Andrew is looking forward to having an expanded cheer squad at his eighth Games, however, like a true professional once he’s in the arena it will just be he and Vassily for that moment in time: “When you go into competition, you’re never concerned about who’s watching or who’s not watching. At least that’s where I am in my mindset.”

For the Australian equestrian community, Andrew’s historic Games appearance will be a moment in time where eventing gains a mainstream audience as the country’s sport-loving public collectively cross their fingers for Olympic glory. In Andrew’s eyes, his eighth Games aren’t about individual records or accolades. “It’s not about the record or getting the T-shirt, it’s about delivering a top performance – and our priority is a medal for the Australian team. I have got one of the best horses I have had in my whole career – so let’s hope the best is yet to come.”