1980s

Show History - 1980s

1980:

Tennessee Walking Horses and American Saddlebred Horses made the long journey across the Atlantic to head the line-up in 1980. It was the first time that these horses with their distinctive gait had performed in Europe. £44,000 in prize money was on offer to the competitors in the international jumping classes. Dutchman Johan Heins won the FEI Volvo World Cup Holland Qualifying Round. The 1980 show marked a farewell to Mr Dorian Williams, who commentated for the BBC for the last time. He was to carry on producing the finale until 1984.

1981:

On reaching the age of ten, the 1981 show opened with a nostalgic look back at show jumping when &8220;Old Timers&8221; such as Seamus Hayes and Alan Oliver competed over fences under 1948 rules. For the first time the Bareback Puissance was held with Gerd Wiltfang and his great mare Goldika clearing the wall at 6’10 1/4". 1981 saw the introduction of The Young Show Jumper Award for riders under 21. Nick Turner won the Award in this first year. One little girl, Naomi Bedford will always remember Olympia 1981, for it was there that &8216;Jim Fixed It’ for her and her Shetland pony Dormouse to jump against Harvey Smith, and she WON!

1982:

Now traditional feature of Olympia, the Shetland Pony Grand National first appeared at the show in 1982. Another first was the appearance of the Westphalian Stallions who came to the show from the State Stud, Noithrhine Westphalia. Nick Skelton won the Radio Rentals Grand Prix. Harvey Smith was a winner too, but in the Pedigree Chum Celebrity Dog Agility Stakes, John Parker gave a demonstration of spilt second and precision driving when taking his four horses through a Tunnel of Fire in a spectacular musical display.

1983:

Karl Kossmayer brought his famous bucking mules from Holland and the Swedish couple, the Svenssons, entertained with acrobatics on horseback. David Broome’s famous grey horse Philco was officially retired in the arena in a tear-jerking ceremony when his saddle was taken off. David was joined in the ring by Phil Harris with whom he had purchased the horse in America. It was appropriate that Philco should be retired at Olympia as he has achieved a unique record of three Grand Prix wins at Olympia in 1975, 1977 and 1981.

1984:

Leading riders of the show were Jean Germany and Austria’s Hugo Simon. Hugo in particular had a very successful show winning three classes including the Radio Rental Grand Prix. Hungarian born Joe Turi who jumped ship when his Czikos troop visited England in 1973 was by now a successful show jumper, but in 1984 he gave an exciting display of trick riding. Who can forget Jacket, the nearly human horse and his owner Tony Hocheggar, who made their first visit to Olympia. Jacket even went to bed in the middle of the arena!

1985:

On the opening night spectators were treated to a display of Her Majesty The Queen’s Carriages with commentary by the Crown Equerry, Colonel Sir John Miller. A new innovation to Olympia, The Vauxhall Teach-In, took place on the Friday morning, and featured demonstrations by Mark Todd, Paul Schockemohle and The Kings Troop. The Kings Troop RHA was at the show for the week performing their exciting Musical Drive.

1986:

The magnificent Grand Hall at Olympia celebrated its centenary, and the traditional Christmas Finale presented by Norwich Union captured the flavour of some of the events that had been held in the hall over the past 100 years. They included Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, Barnum and Bailey & Bertram Mills Circuses and the Motor Show. A special centenary trophy was designed by Judy Boyt, which is presented each year to the Leading Rider of the Show. The inaugural winner was John Whitaker. Tony Hocheggar and Jacket returned to the show and the Household Cavalry performed their famous Musical Ride.

1987:

1987 was a successful year for British show jumpers at Olympia. They were placed in first three in all but two of the international classes; Joe Turi won the Volvo World Cup Qualifier, but the Grand Prix went to Ireland’s Eddie Macken. After an absence of five years Rosie and her fellow racing camels returned to Olympia. Records were once again broken when John Parker and his team broke the World Record for changing one team of horses for another in a breathtaking 27.63 seconds! The Finale celebrated 50 years of Walt Disney’s Show White and the Seven Dwarfs. Sneezy, Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Dopey, Sleepy and Bashful all came to Olympia to join in the Christmas celebrations.

1988:

Only nine seats were unsold at the 1988 show, a record in itself. Franke Sloothaak finished a very successful show by winning the Crosse & Blackwell Grand Prix and two hours later won the fancy dress competition on water skis! Famous circus families were to the fore - Yasmine Smart and Dany Cesar with their liberty horses and Tanya Larrigan, well known in both the worlds of circus and dressage audiences with her unlikely double act of 16hh Salute and 30 inch Hercules. The Shetland Pony Grand National raised a record £30,000 for The Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street.

1989:

Olympia was extended by one performance in 1989 making a grand total of ten. Harvey Smith was honoured for being the first man to have jumped in 100 Volvo World Cup Preliminary Rounds. Michael Whitaker was leading rider of the Show. His brother John gave a memorable imitation of Tina Turner in the Fancy Dress. Nineteen-year-old Marie Edgar won the Young Show Jumper of the Future Award. Bobby Robert’s elephant Maureen came to tea, and also joined in the Finale ’Dumbo’.