'Dreams do come true sometimes,' Dutton tells Rotary Club of Aiken
Mar. 8—For those who set ambitious goals, Phillip Dutton's career in the equestrian sport of eventing is an inspiration.
"People talk about dreaming and all that ... well, I'm here to tell you that dreams do come true sometimes," said the seven-time Olympian, who was the guest speaker during the Rotary Club of Aiken's meeting Monday at Newberry Hall.
A native of Australia, Dutton won two team eventing gold medals while representing that country.
He earned the first during the Summer Olympics in Atlanta in 1996 and claimed the second during the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.
In 2006, "I changed my nationality," said Dutton, who became an American after spending much of his time living and training in the United States, where he met is wife, Evie.
"At the time, it was a very dramatic experience for me, obviously, because I had grown up in Australia and was raised by two loving parents," Dutton continued. "They were very proud of their little boy, I'm sure. But I had come to America, and all the horses I was riding were American horses and the people I rode and trained with were all Americans.
"This country was so great to me that I wanted to put something back and be part of it here as well," Dutton concluded.
He has been on the U.S. eventing team in every Summer Olympics since.
The places where Dutton has trained over years include Aiken, and he developed close ties to the equestrian community here.
The late Bruce Duchossois, an Aiken resident, was one of Dutton's biggest supporters.
In 2008, Dutton rode Connaught, a horse owned by Duchossois, in Hong Kong, where the eventing competition for the Beijing Olympics was held.
"And then Bruce Duchossois bought another horse after Connaught," Dutton said. "His name was Mighty Nice. Unfortunately, Bruce passed away in 2014, and he left me the horse in his will. I sort of got together with some friends of Bruce's and we kept campaigning the horse."
In the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, Dutton earned an individual eventing bronze medal aboard Mighty Nice.
"I don't necessarily believe in fairy tales of what can happen, but this was kind of was a fairy tale story," Dutton said. "I wasn't even picked on this horse (to go to the Olympics). He was the next horse to go (as a reserve)."
Eventing has three phases — dressage, cross-country and show jumping.
The horse that Dutton was supposed to ride in Brazil was better at show jumping than Mighty Nice.
But fate intervened.
"The other horse got injured, so he (Mighty Nice) ends up going to the Olympics," Dutton said.
The U.S. team struggled during the competition, but Dutton and Mighty Nice enjoyed a bit of good fortune.
"I had a lucky escape in the cross-country, which I got by, and then in the show jumping, instead of moving down the order, he (Mighty Nice) moved up in the order and we ended up getting an individual bronze medal."
Dutton described the effort as "one of the highlights" of his eventing career.
"I owe it all to Bruce, who was able to give me a great kick along and a great friendship along the way," Dutton said. "Unfortunately, he wasn't there as part of it, but I'm sure he was watching somewhere."
