Who is the greatest Equestrian athlete of all time based on Olympic Games performances?
The highest-ranked equestrian at the Olympic Games is German rider Isabell Werth, who won six gold and four silver medals between 1992 and 2016. The best male all-time performing equestrian athlete at the Olympic Games is another German, Reiner Klimke, who competed between 1964–1988 winning six gold medals and two bronze. See the table below to see how other athletes ranked.
Andrew Hoy and Matthew Ryan both Australian Eventing riders are 9th and 11th respectively on the weighted ranking system.
Andrew Hoy has competed at more Olympics than any other Australian athlete and Tokyo made it eight. Hoy has won six Olympic medals: three gold, two silver and one bronze. Andrew has also competed at the major 5* events and won Burghley Horse Trials on two occasions with Davey in 1979 and Moonfleet in 2004. He also won Badminton Horse Trials on Moonfleet in 2006 and won at Kentucky Horse Trials in 2006 on Master Monarch. He has also competed at four World Championships.
Matthew Ryan won three Olympic gold medals, two at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona and one at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. Additionally, he finished 8th at the 1992 Badminton Horse Trials, was selected for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics (but had to withdraw a few days before competition due to horse injury), and was the reserve rider for the 2004 Athens Olympics. A few of his other major Badminton Horse Trials results are 2nd 1995 Kibah Tic Toc, 4th 2007 Bonza Katoomba, 8th 2008 Bonza Puzzle.
Top Olympic Games Equestrian Riders
Here are the top-ranked athletes from the sport of Equestrian for performances at all Olympiads, using the Topend Sports Weighted Ranking System to order the athletes, awarding points for both gold (6 points) and other medals (silver 2 pts, bronze 1 pt).
Table: The Top Ranked Athletes from Equestrian at the Olympic Games (Before Tokyo)
| rank | name | country | gender | Gold | Silver | Bronze | total medals |
rating |
| 1 | Isabell Werth | Germany | F | 6 | 4 | 0 | 10 | 44 |
| 2 | Reiner Klimke | Germany | M | 6 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 38 |
| 3 | Hans Gunter Winkler | Germany | M | 5 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 33 |
| 4 | Anky van Grunsven | Netherlands | F | 3 | 5 | 1 | 9 | 29 |
| 5 | Charles Pahud de Mortanges | Netherlands | M | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 26 |
| =6 | Ludger Beerbaum | Germany | M | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 24 |
| =6 | Henri Saint Cyr | Sweden | M | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 24 |
| =6 | Nicole Uphoff | Germany | F | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 24 |
| =9 | Charlotte Dujardin | Great Britain | F | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 20 |
| 9 | Andrew Hoy | Australia | M | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 20 |
| =11 | Richard Meade | Great Britain | M | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 18 |
| =11 | Matthew Ryan | Australia | M | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 18 |
| =11 | Adolph van der Voort van Zijp | Netherlands | M | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 18 |
Notes: For the ranking order, we have used the Topend Sports Weighted Ranking System.
