Richard John Hannay Meade was Britain's most successful male equestrian at the Olympics.
21 Facts About Richard Meade
2.
Richard Meade was a triple Olympic gold medalist and the first British rider to win an individual Olympic title.
3.
Richard Meade won five World Championship medals, including team golds in 1970 and 1982.
4.
Richard Meade was educated at Lancing College and Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he read Engineering and was a member of the Hawks' Club.
5.
Richard Meade served in the 11th Hussars and briefly worked in the City of London before embarking on a life committed to the equestrian sphere.
6.
Richard Meade was a member of Britain's gold medal winning team at both the 1968 and 1972 Summer Olympics, and won the individual gold in 1972.
7.
Richard Meade competed in the 1964 and 1976 Olympics, as well as the substitute competition in Fontainebleau during the partial boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
8.
Richard Meade won two World Championship gold medals and three silver medals, as well as three European Championship gold medals and two bronze medals.
9.
Richard Meade twice won the Badminton Horse Trials, in 1970 on The Poacher and in 1982 on Speculator III.
10.
Richard Meade then returned to carry the union flag during the closing ceremony of the games.
11.
Richard Meade excelled at the major events and championships; in four Olympic games he never finished out of the top eight places.
12.
Richard Meade felt his best performance was at the 1976 Montreal games riding Jacob Jones, who was a relatively cautious horse; they finished 4th individually.
13.
Richard Meade was voted BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year in 1972.
14.
Richard Meade served on the British Horse Society's Council and was Chairman of the British Horse Foundation.
15.
Richard Meade was formerly President of the British Equestrian Federation, a member of the International Equestrian Federation's Eventing Committee and then a Bureau Member and Chairman of its Northern European Group of Nations.
16.
Richard Meade served on the sport's governing body in the UK continuously for over 30 years until after its reorganisation in 1996 when he was made a Vice President.
17.
Richard Meade was an FEI Judge and Course Designer, roles that took him all over the world.
18.
Latterly, Richard Meade worked as an equestrian expert witness and continued to train riders from his home in South Gloucestershire.
19.
In 2001, the RSPCA expelled Richard Meade for organising a campaign to encourage supporters of fox hunting to join so as to put pressure on the society to change its policy.
20.
On 14 September 2013, his son, James Richard Meade, married Lady Laura Marsham, daughter of Julian Charles Marsham, 8th Earl of Romney, at St Nicholas' Church in Gayton, Norfolk.
21.
Richard Meade died on 8 January 2015, after receiving treatment for cancer.