Ben Maher reveals the physical focus that helped him to become an Olympic champion

Mdmar –Tokyo- FEI

Images by Christophe Taniere / Arnd Bronkhorst / EFE

Ben Maher’s incredible life is built on talent, ambition and the ability to handle the pressure of getting the best out of the most amazing horse in the world.

It’s seemingly all about metal too – the gold of the medal he won at Tokyo 2020 on Wednesday, the wedding band he’ll receive from the new Mrs Maher later this month, and the iron he pumped every day to get himself toward his physical peak and thus the edge that may well have secured him that glorious Olympic title.

Maher and Explosion W added to team Great Britain’s equestrian medal tally by taking home the Individual Jumping gold medal after a six-way jump off. The 38-year-old’s win gave GB their fifth Olympic medal in equestrian events, equalling their London 2012 haul – which included a Team gold for Maher.

The new champion, 38, who’s been riding since the age of eight, has become something of a stalwart in British Jumping, despite not coming from a horsey background.

“I’m not from a show jumping family background, so I’ve watched many of the riders when I was just a small child, 10 or 11 years old at home on TV, at Olympia or Hickstead and tried to learn always from them,” Maher said after his win.

“And I’ve had so many people I owe this to in the end. Obviously, Explosion is the main one but I have people that have been with me for 10-15 years and my team back home. Cormac Kenny (Ben’s groom) came with me from Ireland when he was 16. And he grew up with me, and he’s here to be a huge part of this moment. My family, my fiancée. But yeah, there’s so many people that have contributed to making this possible. And hopefully we’ll get home and have a good celebration.”

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Another big day

Maher took a couple of weeks off from wedding planning with his fiancée Sophie Gracida to come to the games in Tokyo, and will soon switch medals for rings.

“I don’t know what’s more pressure – this, or getting married!” he joked.

But given he’s exchanging vows with another equestrian and horse fanatic in her own right, we don’t think we’ll see him easing off the accelerator when it comes to horse shows any time soon. Although we do expect that the wedding will be a bit of a double celebration with plenty to toast.

Luckily, he says Sophie has excused him from wedding planning and “knows she has to share me” in future.

Which is good news for Team GB’s fans, because when it comes down to the wire, there are few athletes you’d want more in the ring than Maher.

Though he notes the pressures, he’s come to be one of the nation’s most reliable showjumpers, especially when it comes to high-pressure situations.

Apart from the Team gold at London 2012, his list of accolades ranges from gold and silver medals at the FEI European Championships to titles at major Grand Prix competitions and Longines FEI Jumping World Cup events including Olympia, Wellington, and Hickstead amongst others.

The incredible Explosion

Showing almost no nerves to speak of (maybe they’re coming at the wedding?), Maher repeated his feat of the fastest clear from Tuesday’s qualifying round and hurtled round the jump off track, clinching the gold medal by 17 hundredths of a second, thanks in no small part to Explosion W’s huge step, scope, and heart.

He said: “I’m biased, but I believe I am on the best horse. He’s an incredible horse and I’m very fortunate to be able to ride him. I’ve had many good horses in my career, but I won’t ride another one like him.

“The horse is like lightning. The first two sections I maybe could have gone faster. He did question me in the middle at the oxer and there was a little hesitation. He’s not a normal horse. All the nerves that I have and things going on in my mind, actually, when I get to the gate, and I go in, it kind of all goes away. I jump fence one and something clicks and he just fills me with confidence. I just really enjoying riding him and hopefully it lasts a long time.”

But as we all know, shows – even the Olympics – are simply a culmination of the work you’ve done at home. A chance to show the world what you’ve learnt, as it were. And there’s no doubt that Maher has been putting in the work at home.

“The horseis likelightning”Hitting the gymAside from the hours spent in the saddle preparing his horses and sharpening those skills, he’s also been spending enormous amounts of time in the gym.

And after back surgery in 2020, recovery and fitness were key to his Olympic dream.

He added: “I feel younger than I probably am. This is my fourth Olympic Games and makes me the oldest one on the team here.

“I don’t think my career was ever in, in sort of jeopardy if you like. It was a planned surgery, I had a fantastic team of doctors, National Lottery and everybody that supports us back home made that possible. And then the team that I had around me to get me fit.”

He explained: “I was in the gym for nearly 12 weeks with a guy called Ed in America. He got me fit just one week after surgery, and then I continued with Jenny the physio, on Zoom calls and things.

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“It is not typical for our sport to be working out and really trying to retrain the muscles because I was unable to walk and put shoes on and do normal everyday things. But yeah, I think that was something I could be in control of, but the horses and getting them fit and everybody that makes that possible, I owe a lot to.”

In the run up to the games, Maher upped the training and said he’s “been in the gym and working hard every day, sometimes twice a day. We had posters on the wall of athletes who have won things and it inspired me.”

Staying strong

With Tokyo’s hot and humid climate, and a course featuring no less than 17 efforts in the first round, that extra fitness and strength would no doubt have paid off when it came to staying strong and quiet in the saddle.

It doesn’t end quite there though.

Maher’s indoor arena at home actually features the five Olympic rings mounted on a plank on the wall. So when you’re riding, the Olympic rings are watching over you.

We like to think it was inspiration for his big moment on the podium – after all, there’s got to be something motivational about seeing the iconic rings every time you approach a big oxer!

In reality, Ben says that each member of the gold medal winning team from London 2012 was allowed to keep one fence. The planks, complete with rings, are part of the fence Ben chose as his keepsake.

Maybe he’ll be adding a sumo wrestler, Mount Fuji painting, or giant cherry blossom alongside the rings in future?

Riding off instinct

Maher seemed almost stunned by his win after realising he’d taken gold. Though he says he had a plan for his jump off ride, he rode purely off instinct when it came down to it.

“I don’t really remember any of it to be honest. I’m kind of experienced now, I’ve been in many positions, but just not one like this before,” he said.

“I thought by being fastest qualifier yesterday, if I could jump a clear round, I would be last in the jump-off, and it threw me off a little bit. So in the warm-up it threw me off a little bit, because I really wanted to be in a position to know exactly what I had to do.

“But Peter Charles and Scott Brash were watching for me, and they said, you just have to go. Do what you’ve done on him in the past. And as I was going through the game, I didn’t want to be that person that was fourth. I guess there’s an element of luck always involved in these things. But he is an incredibly fast horse, and he’s done this many times now.”

Team talk

With Maher saying that he thinks the win “doesn’t feel real” and will probably only sink in “tomorrow or tonight” we all have to hope that he’ll be ready for a repeat performance come Saturday and the Team final.

And by that time, he may be well on his way to contesting another medal in the Team competition alongside Scott Brash and Holly Smith – although Team GB will have to fight hard to beat out the Swedish riders, all of whom made it through to the jump off in the individual final.

Peder Fredricson will be coming out all guns blazing. He would have been suffering from a sense of déjà vu after having to settle for silver medal behind Maher; not a million miles away from Rio 2016, where British Nick Skelton and Big Star rode their way to gold and Fredricson stood in second place. But Maher will be hungry for a double gold.

Make no mistake: there’s everything to fight for in the team competition this coming Friday and Saturday.

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The “Midmar” website for horse and equestrian races is keen to cover and follow all competitions related to horses, from show jumping, Horseracing, speed and endurance races, and purebred Arabian horse beauty shows, which belong to the Arab Gulf countries at home and abroad in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the State of Qatar, the State of Kuwait, the Sultanate of Oman, and the Kingdom of Bahrain.