Gillian Rolton

Gillian Rolton competed at the 1992 and 1996 Olympics, helping Australia to win team golds in eventing at both Olympics. In Atlanta in 1996 she fell five minutes into the endurance phase, when her mount Peppermint Grove, which she called “Freddie” for short, fell, causing Rolton to fracture her collarbone and several ribs, but she re-mounted and rode on to make her points count for the team. She later said, “You don’t go to the Games to be a wuss, you don’t go to the Games to be a wimp.”

Rolton did not compete at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, but carried the Australian flag at the Opening Ceremony. She later became director of the Adelaide Three-Day International. In 2017, shortly before her death, she was given the key to the City of Adelaide by Lord Mayor Martin Haese. Rolton died quite young after a long battle with endometrial cancer.