Matt first came to the UK in 1984 to be a Working Pupil with British International 3 Day Event Rider Richard Meade. Richard was one of the most successful riders in the world at the time, having won 3 Olympic Gold Medals.

After returning home to Australia in 1985, Matt worked with his second eldest brother Simon, on the family sheep farm and rode his horses ’part time’.

In 1987 Matt moved to work for and be based with, his eldest brother Heath and Heath’s wife Rozzie at the New South Wales Equestrian Centre, Lochinvar.

In 1988 Matt and his horse Southland of Coolalee were selected to represent the Australian Eventing Team for the Seoul Olympics as a Reserve.

In May 1989 Matt then moved to be based full time in the UK. After a successful Badminton Horse Trials in 1992 riding Kibah Tic Toc (8th), Matt and Tic Toc were selected to represent Australia at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics where they won Individual and Team GOLD medals.

Matt was again selected for the Australian Eventing Team for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics with his two horses; Hinnegar and Alater Pedis. Unfortunately both horses had to be withdrawn from the competition due to injuries.

Matt was once again selected for the Australian Team for the 2000 Sydney Olympics with Kibah Sandstone, and they were members of the gold medal winning team.

Matt Ryan announced his retirement from competition in 2014.

PERSONAL DOSSIER

Born: 1964
School: Francis Greenway – a very lowly school that had probably the worst rate for producing anything intelligent. It got vandalised and burned down three times while I was there. It was right next to the town of Woodbury, which had the worst child criminal rate in the whole of New South Wales, and they were the kids that came to that school, so we were a bunch of dropouts really. It is amazing we have come out sort of sane and without criminal records.
OTHER SPORTS: Cricket team player

The ruthless Ryan boys at Maitland Pony Club. A family to be reckoned with! Left to right: Matt, Simon, Heath and James.

Matt Ryan and his first three-star star, the home bred Benwerrin of Coolalee at Werribee three-day in 1987. The pair led the dressage but fell on the cross country That year, Matt finished second to Kiwi and Andrew Hoy with his other mount, Southland of Coolalee. (Photo: Stephen Show)

Below: Writing his place in Aussie history, Matt and Kibah Tic Toc go gloriously across country at Barcelona for double gold medals. (Photo: Jan Gyllensten)

Winning a gold medal at Barcelona hasn’t made life easier as far as living luxuriously but it has enabled me to ride more horses and have better facilities. We were able to move into our present yard, three years ago. I’m paying a decent rent and without those endorsements I wouldn’t be able to afford it. Definitely without the facilities I probably wouldn’t be able to perform consistently as well or have as many staff or horses. The sponsorship since Barcelona has enabled me to up production, which basically means harder work as well, more graft, but it has raised the game.

BARCELONA

I guess we went into Barcelona not being a serious threat to anyone. I was only just getting recognition because I went round Badminton really well. I was third after the cross-country and dropped to eighth after having five rails down in the showjumping. That was the year when it was really wet and it caused chaos in the showjumping, so I didn’t drop that far down the placings.

I was this Aussie, who could ride a bit, but no one thought I or Australia was a threat to anyone, but I did, I thought I could do it. I was really pissed off after the dressage. Tic Toc had been going so well I thought he could lead and although he didn’t do as well as I had hoped in the test, as a bit of tension crept in, I thought we’d make the top five; I was eighteenth and I was furious!

Judges can always make mistakes here and there, and you always get ripped off, but I thought, why this one? Anyway that was that. Going into the ten-minute box, no-one was making the time. Andrew Nicholson was the first New Zealander to go and he had been in the lead all day on a dressage score worse than mine. Suddenly it became a possibility that I could get right back in this game with a good cross-country round. That is what I did. I took a couple of quick routes that I had been umming and aahing about, because they were a bit risky, but I went out across country thinking there was an opportunity. I decided to take the course on, and get the quicker time.

Just one rail down on one of the most notoriously fragile showjumpers in the history of eventing! Matt and Kibah Tic Toc seal victory at Barcelona. Tic Toe was bred by Bridget ‘Bud’ Hyem, who was herself a top level eventing and showjumping competitor. Tic Toc is by the imported Hanoverian stallion, Domherr but out of Sandrift, a daughter of Bud’s Advanced eventer, Drift… Bud Hyem continues to breed top class eventing horses.

I trusted myself and Tic Toc that we could survive what rough moments we came across. I did have a couple of lives – seriously there were a couple of moments where my heart was in my mouth – but we survived them. You might look back and say ‘that bloke was lucky to get a gold medal because he could have almost fallen off there or almost had a stop there’ but that’s the game and we didn’t. I put that down to the technique. That’s why I copied Lucinda Green.

If there are rough moments I am going to survive them, that’s part of the game. The better the technique, the better the skill, the more likely you are to survive because you will always have rough moments.

Obviously I was dreading the showjumping. I was in the lead with a rail in hand. Herbert Blocker in third had one and a half time penalties and when Andrew Nicholson demolished the course, it relieved a lot of pressure so with all the help I had been getting, I really thought I could do it. Thinking about it now, that was probably pretty stupid. I could have easily missed a few strides somewhere, but luckily it all came together and I was proud of myself that I didn’t fall to bits. I had a game plan with Vicki Roycroft and she was ecstatic too. It was just as much her victory, as mine and Tic Toc’s.

At the time I won the gold medal, I felt OK, I was pretty numb and a bit blasé. It is only in the last four years (not so much now because I am no longer the champion), that I have felt pretty good about it. Once I got home to Australia and I realised the impact it had on the Australian public, I thought ‘there were millions of people watching me do that’ and in their eyes I’m a hero’. Even this year I am replying fan mail letters from some two hundred and fifty little kids, which is fantastic. Over here in Britain, I’m nothing special because I’m in a foreign country. People might respect me, but I’m a foreigner, but in Australia, kids have called me a legend…

www.mattryan.co.uk