Irish show jumping legend Tommy Wade has passed away at the age of 80.
Wade suffered a stroke last week and died in the early hours of Monday morning at the Bons Secours Hospital in Cork.
The Tipperary show jumper won the Nations Cup and Grands Prix all over the world with the formidable Dundrum in the early 1960s.
At the 1963 Dublin Horse Show, Wade won all five international classes and was part of the winning Aga Khan team. He was also victorious at the King George V Cup at the White City, the Vaux Trophy at Newcastle, the Boylan Trophy at Ballsbridge, the Grand Prix at Brussels and took top prize at the Horse of the Year Show.
After finishing his riding career, Wade took over as the Irish show jumping chef d’equipe and led the team to over 30 Nations Cup victories at Aachen, Dublin, Rotterdam, Hickstead, Calgary and La Baule.
He was the chef d’equipe when Ireland claimed a gold medal at the European Championships in 2001 and at the World Equestrian Games in 2002 when Dermott Lennon won individual gold.
Wade is the only equestrian sports person in the Irish Sports Hall of Fame, to which he was inducted in 2013.
Last August, at the Dublin Horse Show, he was presented with a Horse Sport Ireland Hall of Fame Award and received a specially commissioned medal from current Irish chef d’equipe, three-time Brazilian Olympic medallist Rodrigo Pessoa.
