Pat Smythe

Pat Smythe was regarded as one of the world’s finest female show jumpers in the 1950s and 60s. Women were first allowed to compete in Olympic show jumping events in 1956 when Smythe and Brigitte Schockaert of Belgium were the first two women to break the male dominance of the sport. In winning the team bronze medal, Smythe made history as the first woman to win an Olympic show jumping medal.

In her heyday, Smythe was associated with some well-known horses. Her favourite was probably the former National Hunt racehorse she re-named Prince Hal, who she bought for just £300. Smythe was also associated with Tosca and Flanagan, who she rode at the 1956 and 1960 Olympics. She won the Royal International Horse Show four times and in 1962 Smythe and Flanagan won the British Show Jumping Derby at Hickstead. She went on to win Grand Prix events all over the world and at the time of her death in 1996 had won in more countries than any other show jumper, male or female. Smythe also had success riding Mr. Pollard, including winning the 1958 Queen Elizabeth II Cup.

Smythe won 13 Nations Cup events and the European Ladies’ Championship four times in 1957, 1961-63, three of her wins coming with Flanagan. She also won many domestic titles and set a women’s high jump record of 7ft 3½in (1.91m).

Thanks to the coverage of show jumping given by BBC television in the 1960s, Pat Smythe became a household name. She retired shortly after the Rome Olympics and married the Swiss-born three-day eventer, lawyer, and businessman Samuel Koechlin in September 1963. She then devoted a lot of her time to the preservation of rare animals and the environment, and joined the World Wildlife Fund in 1961, and became a member of their International Committee.

Smythe was awarded the OBE in 1956 for her Olympic achievement and between 1986-89 maintained her contact with the sport as president of the British Show Jumping Association.

For relaxation, Smythe enjoyed playing the guitar but also wrote many best-selling children’s novels that were translated into several languages. She also wrote two autobiographies Jump for Joy and Jumping Life’s Fences

It is hard to believe that In the early days of her jumping career, in order to finance it, Smythe worked weekends and in school holidays she milked cows, repaired farm stone walls, and sold vegetables. Her dedication paid off.