By Caroline Stauffer
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - British eventers William Fox-Pitt and Pippa Funnell have more in common than a collection of Olympic medals, with the veteran athletes having recovered from scary cross country falls in order to compete in Rio de Janeiro.
Less than a year ago the now five-time Olympian Fox-Pitt was in a medically induced coma after enduring a head injury falling from a young horse in an October competition.
"It's been hard work – I lost all my fitness... all my strength, all my judgement, all my sight," Fox-Pitt told Reuters on Tuesday, saying gym work, therapy, and cutting riding time back from his normal eight to 12 hours a day aided recovery.
"I always thought I was going to come to Rio. I don’t think my family thought that. My family thought I was mad," he added.
Funnell, who like Fox-Pitt is 47, has also had a roller coaster year involving rehabilitation from a May fall that left her hospitalized for four days, a result of competing in one of the summer Games' most risky sports.
In addition to jumping a stadium course and completing a dressage test, eventers face a more dangerous element: an outdoor cross-country course requiring horses and riders to clear giant obstacles that do not fall down.
"It is a sport you really have to be in top form and brave for and I started to battle, thinking do I really want this?" Funnell said in an interview. She won team silver in Sydney in 2000 and at Athens 2004 as well as an individual bronze in 2004.
Four years ago Funnell, who also coaches and writes children's books, thought her Olympic days were over. She was the British team's travelling reserve until July, when Izzy Taylor withdrew due to an injured horse.
Unlike Fox-Pitt, who comes to Rio with 2000 stallion Chille Morning, the horse that carried him to a second win at Badminton in 2015, Funnell will ride a younger horse she transitioned from show jumping to eventing just three years ago.
Three-day eventing kicks off the equestrian events at Rio's Deodoro area on Aug. 6 with individual dressage tests.
Team Great Britain was the most successful nation in equestrian events in 2012. The country finished second to Germany in team eventing.
Kitty King and Gemma Tattersall round out Team GB's eventing team in Rio, making their Olympic debuts.