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McLain Ward
	McLain Ward riding HH Azur in the 2017 FEI World Cup Jumping Finals
Personal information
Born	October 17, 1975 (age 49); Mount Kisco, New York, U.S.
Medal record
Equestrian
Representing the United States
Olympic Games
World Championships
World Cup
Pan American Games

McLain Ward (born October 17, 1975) is an American show jumping competitor and five-time Olympic medalist.

At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Ward won the team jumping gold medal for the United States, together with Peter Wylde, Beezie Madden, and Chris Kappler.^[1] He again won team jumping gold at the 2008 Olympic Games, riding Sapphire alongside teammates Laura Kraut, Beezie Madden and Will Simpson. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, Ward won team jumping silver for the United States.^[2]

Early life

Ward was born in Mount Kisco, New York to Barney Ward and Kristine Lindsey. His hometown is Brewster, New York. He graduated from Greenwich Country Day School in 1993.^[3] His parents were professionals in the horse industry and encouraged him to ride. His father was his main business partner for much of his life. In 1990, at age 14, he became the youngest rider to win the United States Equestrian Federation's Show Jumping Derby. Later that year, he became the youngest rider to win the USET Medal Finals and became the first and youngest rider to win both titles in the same year.^[4]

Career

Ward won the Hampton Classic Grand Prix aboard his Selle Francais bay gelding, Twist Du Valon, in 1998 and 1999. They were the first rider-horse combination to win the Classic's Grand Prix back-to-back two years in a row. Ward became the youngest rider ever to reach the $1 million prize money mark in grand prix competition in 1999.^[5]

At the 2004 Olympic Games, Ward won the team jumping gold representing the United States.

Ward rode with a broken collarbone in the 2005 Samsung Super League when the United States team won the Championship.^[6]

Ward found himself at the center of controversy at the 2010 World Cup Final in Geneva, Switzerland. His mount, Sapphire, was eliminated after the second round of jumping due to hypersensitivity in her left forelimb. Sapphire was second in both rounds prior to elimination, and was at the top of the overall standings at the time of the disqualification. McLain challenged the ruling to the FEI.^[7] In July 2010, the FEI and McLain Ward agreed, to avoid extensive litigation, that Sapphire was incorrectly eliminated. However, Sapphire's disqualification from the final round of the World Cup remained in place. The FEI also decided to develop mandatory guidelines for hypersensitivity tests.^[8]^[9]

In 2010, Ward was featured in the television series A Rider's Story^[10] along with fellow Olympian Laura Kraut.

On the evening of January 14, 2012, when Ward was riding Oh d'Eole in the $30,000 Surpass Grand Prix, Ward suffered an injury, hitting his kneecap on a jump standard. Ward was to heal for eight weeks.^[11]

Ward's horse Sapphire was retired May 14, 2012 at the Devon Horse Show. That night, Ward won the $100,000 Wells Fargo Grand Prix of Devon.^[12]^[13] November 28, 2012 Ward won the $10,000 Welcome Stake aboard Ilan Ferder and Missy Clark's Zhum CW, a Dutch Warmblood (KWPN).^[14]

At the 2012 Olympics in London, Ward rode for the USA Olympic Equestrian team. He placed 29th in Individual Jumping-Final Round A, 24th in Individual Jumping-Third Qualifier, 6th in Team Jumping Final Round 2, 20th in Individual Jumping Second-Qualifier, 7th in Team Jumping Finial Round 1, 1st in Individual Jumping-Final Round, and 5th in Team Jumping-Qualification Round 1.^[15]

At the 2016 Summer Olympics, Ward again rode for the U.S. Team. His mount was HH Azur, owned by Double H Farms and Francois Mathy. At the time of the Olympics Azur was 10. He earned a team silver medal, and placed 9th individually. He stepped into the role of anchor for the team on the final day of team competition after teammate Beezie Madden's horse suffered an injury. He had near perfect rounds all week, dropping only one rail all week.

In 2017 McLain won the Longines FEI World Cup Championship. It was his 17th appearance at the final. The highest he had placed up till then was 2nd in 2009. He won riding his 2016 Olympic mount HH Azur, an 11 year old mare. He completed the week with no penalties after five rounds of jumping, one rail (four faults) ahead of the second place rider.

In April 2017, McLain Ward was ranked #1 in the Longines FEI world rankings for the first time. He was ranked #1 through June 2017, but in July 2017, Kent Farrington was ranked #1 and McLain Ward was ranked #2 in the world. This was the first time 2 American stood at the top of the Longines FEI world rankings.^[16]

Ward currently has horses of his own, as well as riding for owners such as Double H Farm of Ridgefield, Conn. As of 2018, he is now starting to train. During the World Equestrian Games in Tryon, he taught rider and teammate Adrienne Sternlicht.^[17]

Recently, Ward has won 5 Grand Prixs at the during the 2020 winter circuit in Wellington, Florida.

International Championship Results

Results
Year	Event	Horse	Placing	Notes
1995	World Cup Final	Orchestre	10th
1996	World Cup Final	Omnibus	24th
1997	World Cup Final		38th
1998	World Cup Final	Orchestre	39th
1999	World Cup Final	Beneton	17th
2002	World Cup Final	Viktor	4th
2003	World Cup Final	Viktor / Onyx 66	23rd
2004	World Cup Final	Goldika 559	38th
2004	Olympic Games	Sapphire		Team
2004	Olympic Games	Sapphire	27th	Individual
2005	World Cup Final	Sapphire	16th
2006	World Equestrian Games	Sapphire		Team
2006	World Equestrian Games	Sapphire	7th	Individual
2007	World Cup Final	Sapphire	8th
2008	Olympic Games	Sapphire		Team
2008	Olympic Games	Sapphire	5th	Individual
2009	World Cup Final	Sapphire
2010	World Cup Final	Sapphire	30th
2010	World Equestrian Games	Sapphire	10th	Team
2010	World Equestrian Games	Sapphire	7th	Individual
2011	World Cup Final	Antares F / Rothchild	10th
2011	Pan American Games	Nikita F		Team
2011	Pan American Games	Nikita F	4th	Individual
2012	Olympic Games	Antares F	6th	Team
2012	Olympic Games	Antares F	29th	Individual
2013	World Cup Final	Super Trooper De Ness	5th
2014	World Cup Final	HH Carlos Z / Rothchild	9th
2014	World Equestrian Games	Rothchild		Team
2014	World Equestrian Games	Rothchild	5th	Individual
2015	World Cup Final	Rothchild	20th
2015	Pan American Games	Rothchild		Team
2015	Pan American Games	Rothchild		Individual
2016	Olympic Games	HH Azur		Team
2016	Olympic Games	HH Azur	9th	Individual
2017	World Cup Final	HH Azur
2018	World Cup Final	HH Azur	4th
2018	World Equestrian Games	Clinta		Team
2018	World Equestrian Games	Clinta	4th	Individual
2021	2020 Olympic Games	Contagious		Team
2022	World Cup Final	Contagious	7th
2022	World Championships	Contagious
2023	World Cup Final	Callas	23rd (tie)

EL = Eliminated
RET = Retired
WD = Withdrew

Personal life

Ward married in October 2008.^[18] His father, Barney Ward, died in 2012 of cancer.^[19] His father Barney Ward was involved in the Horse Murders scandal, an insurance fraud scheme that killed horses for insurance money. He served three years in federal prison, and three years probation.^[20]^{[circular reference]} Ward has two daughters: Lilly who was born in February 2015 and Madison born in February 2020.^[21]^[22] His hobbies include golf and basketball.^[23]

References

Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "McLain Ward". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020.

^ "2004 Summer Olympics – Athens, Greece – Equestrian" Archived 2008-06-29 at the Wayback Machine – databaseOlympics.com (Retrieved on April 27, 2008)
^ "McLain Ward". Team USA. Archived from the original on July 7, 2015. Retrieved October 5, 2018.
^ "McLain Ward". Team USA. Archived from the original on July 7, 2015. Retrieved October 5, 2018.
^ "Home". Mclain Ward Inc. Retrieved October 5, 2018.
^ "McLain Ward, On Twist Du Valon, Makes Classic History | The East Hampton Star". easthamptonstar.com. Retrieved October 5, 2018.
^ Papows, Jeff (2011). Unbridled Passion: Show Jumpings Greatest Horses and Riders. Acanthus Publishing. Archived from the original on January 26, 2012. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
^ McLain Ward's World Cup horse disqualified from Final Archived July 26, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, announcement of the International Federation of Equestrian Sports(FEI)
^ http://www.fei.org: FEI resolves legal dispute over World Cup disqualification Archived 2010-07-25 at the Wayback Machine, July 2, 2010
^ http://www.st-georg.de: Der Fall McLain Ward und Sapphire: Die FEI knickt ein (german; "The case of McLain Ward and Sapphire: The FEI cave in"), July 3, 2010
^ www.equestrianlife.com
^ Sorge, M. (2012, January 12). Updated: McLain Ward Breaks Leg In Fall. Retrieved December 5, 2012
^ Network, U. (n.d.). Mclain Ward. Retrieved December 7, 2012, from USEF Network website: "McLain Ward - USEF Network". Archived from the original on January 4, 2012. Retrieved December 14, 2012.
^ Tie, B., Inc. (2012, May 15). Show jumping superstar Sapphire retired at age 17. Retrieved December 7, 2012, from Horse Channel website: http://www.horsechannel.com/horse-news/2012/05/15/sapphire-retired.aspx
^ Media, J. W., Inc. (2012, November 28). McLain Ward Kicks Off Holiday & Horses With a Win on Zhum CW. Retrieved December 7, 2012, from USEF Network website: http://www.usefnetwork.com/news/9388/2012/11/28/mclain_ward_kicks_off_holiday__hor.aspx
^ Olympics, N. (n.d.). Mclain Ward. Retrieved December 12, 2012, from NBC Olympics website: http://www.nbcolympics.com/athletes/athlete=mclain-ward/index.html
^ "Home". Mclain Ward Inc. Retrieved October 5, 2018.
^ "Double H Farm - Wellington, FL - Ridgefield, CT". www.doublehfarm.org. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
^ "McLain Ward". Team USA. Archived from the original on July 7, 2015. Retrieved October 5, 2018.
^ "Barney Ward Passes Away". www.chronofhorse.com. Retrieved October 5, 2018.
^ "Barney Ward".
^ "McLain And Lauren Ward Welcome Baby Girl". www.chronofhorse.com. Retrieved October 5, 2018.
^ Showjumping, www worldofshowjumping com, World of. "A daughter for Lauren and McLain Ward | World of Showjumping". www.worldofshowjumping.com. Retrieved May 26, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ "McLain Ward". Team USA. Archived from the original on July 7, 2015. Retrieved October 5, 2018.