Clayton's Story
Clayton Fredericks was a part of the Beijing 2008 Australian Eventing Team that picked up the first silver medal for Australia having previously won four gold and two bronze medals in the discipline. Along with Fredericks the team comprised of his wife Lucinda Fredericks, Megan Jones, Sonja Johnson and Shane Rose - all first-time Olympians and all acquitted themselves extremely well.
Germany won the gold medal by 5.1 penalties with Great Britain a distant third, 14.5 penalties adrift of Australia. Australia led after the dressage, historically the nation’s most difficult discipline, before being overtaken by Germany after the completion of the cross country, which is normally the strongest component. Jones, on Irish Jester, was the best ranked of the Australians in the individual event finishing fourth. Clayton Fredricks on Ben Along Time was seventh, Sonja Johnson on Ringwood Jaguar tenth, Lucinda Fredricks, Headley Britannia, was 26th and Shane Rose, All Luck, 27th. The United States finished seventh in the team event with one of its members being Phillip Dutton who won gold medals in the Australian teams at Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000.
Clayton Fredericks, again alongside his wife Lucinda, went on to compete in London at the 2012 Olympic Games. The team suffered two withdrawals before the Games even started. Shane Rose and his replacement Megan Jones both had to pull out of their Olympic campaign when their horses pulled up lame. The team, eventually comprising the Fredericks, Andrew Hoy, Chris Burton and Sam Williams, finished sixth and Clayton had an individual result of 75th.
