Sudbury horse rider will be Canada's oldest 2024 Olympian

Jill Irving says she was a young child when she began learning to ride a horse at camp in Sudbury.

She took to jumping first, but eventually became taken with dressage.

From there, a lifelong passion was born. But even decades after she first saddled up, she's still a rookie. In one way, at least.

That's because next week, at 61, Irving will make her Olympic debut, competing as Team Canada's oldest athlete in Paris. 

"I'm kind of in shock," she told CBC Radio's Morning North this week. 

"I don't feel 61 years old," she said. "That's the new 31."

Irving will compete in the equestrian dressage event — a sort of "horse ballet" where riders try to move in harmony with their horses through a series of choreographed moves, trying to make it appear as if the horse is performing on its own.

Irving first competed and trained at the now-defunct Sudbury Pony Club, before moving to New Brunswick after university. Though she's lived in Moncton for 36 years now, she says she still has family in Ontario and tries to get back to Sudbury every summer, taking her children along to ride back home.

Her hometown gave her the skills she needed to excel at her sport, she says.

"I'm so proud to have grown up in Sudbury," Irving said. "It makes us super tough, super resilient."

Although Irving has been a lifelong rider and competitor, she says she began to take training more seriously after her children left home in 2008. She made her Fédération Equestre Internationale debut in 2013, and has had multiple top-10 finishes since then. She also helped Team Canada win gold in dressage at the 2019 Pan American Games.

A second chance at the biggest stage

Irving was supposed to take part at the Tokyo Games in 2020, but when they were postponed a year, her horse grew too old to compete, and she had to defer a lifelong dream.

"It was disheartening," she said. "But I'm trying again and here we are."

Irving bought a new horse, Delacroix, two years ago. Irving, who stands 5-10, said Delacroix is a bigger horse than she's used to, but they trained hard together and became comfortable enough with each other to qualify for a second chance at the Olympics.

"For all you 61-year-olds out there, go for it, live your dream," she said.

Irving says she has family flying to Paris from New Brunswick and Ontario to cheer her on. She says her communities in Sudbury and the Maritimes have both rallied around her ahead of the games. Should she and Delacroix medal, she says it will be an honour to share it with all of them.

"I have to share it with my husband, my family, my groom, my ferrier, my veterinarian," she said. "It's got to be divided a lot of ways. It's an individual sport, but it takes a team."

The Paris Olympics will run from July 26 to Aug. 11. The dressage event starts July 27.