At the age of 22, George Morris, of the University of Virginia, was the youngest member of the U.S. show jumping team which won the silver medals at the Rome Olympics. Individually he placed 10th. He was also a member of gold medal winning US team at the 1959 Pan American Games (with Frank Chapot, Hugh Wiley, and Bill Steinkraus). After the 1960 Olympics, Morris retired from competition and had a brief fling at an acting career, but he was soon back with the horses and achieved considerable success as an instructor and author. Ironically, Morris had suffered from a fear of horses during childhood.
Morris later became an equestrian coach and trainer. He later coached the US Olympic equestrian team, and then coached the Brazilian team. Morris also became a prominent author, writing on equestrian and horse topics. Following sexual misconduct allegations, which related to an incident from over 40 years ago, Morris was banned for life, at the age of 81, by the United States Equestrian Federation in 2019. As of August 2019, that ban is being appealed by Morris.
United States