Lana duPont

Lana du Pont made history in 1964 when she became the first woman from any nation to compete in the three-day event at the Olympics. She placed 33rd individually, but was a non-scoring member of the US team that won a team silver medal. Descended from the du Pont family, one of the wealthiest families in America.

Lana grew up in horse country in Maryland and Delaware and started out riding in foxhunts. She attended the Oldfields School in Baltimore, graduating in 1957. At the Olympics, du Pont competed only in 1964, but she continued competing in equestrian events, later concentrating on combined driving events and in 1991 won a gold medal in the pairs division at the World Championships. She then moved her focus to endurance riding, later placing second in the US Equestrian Team Endurance 100-mile Championship, riding Nathan’s Pride.

Du Pont established her own horse farm, Unicorn Farm, in Chesapeake City, Maryland. She was one of the founding members of the United States Combined Training Association (now the US Eventing Association).