Bennie followed passion to two Olympics

This year the Northern Advocate People's Choice Award category in the Konica Minolta Northland Sports Awards is focussing on past Olympians.

Today we begin profiling the 11 Olympians that you will be asked to vote on from November to November 18.

The winner will be announced at the awards on November 30.

Andrew Bennie was always a bit of a bright spark on the eventing circuit.

Educated at Kaitaia College, he became an electrician by trade but his passion was always horse riding. All his spare time was spent riding, eventing or travelling to events - and all his focus outside of work revolved around horses.

He was selected for the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 and the Kaitaia community rallied to provide generous financial assistance as he quit his job to prepare for the challenge ahead.

Following their horses home after the Olympics, the team passed through the UK for a period of quarantine, where Bennie's horizons widened and opportunity beckoned.

Success in European competition helped him to gain selection for a second Olympics in Seoul in 1988, where he won a bronze medal riding Grayshott in the three-day event team's competition.

Bennie was also selected in the team for the Atlanta Olympics but he was unable to accept when his horse broke down.

He remains UK-based where he has bought his own land and stables. He has continued eventing and now trains both riders and horses. It hasn't always been easy but he remains popular and well respected among his peers and was recently selected as a judge at next year's Badminton Horse Trials - the biggest three day event in the world.