Eric Lamaze rode his way into history Thursday, clinching an Olympic gold medal in the individual equestrian show jumping competition -- the first Canadian to ever accomplish the feat.
With the aid of his horse Hickstead, Lamaze posted back-to-back clean runs in the first two rounds. For the final round, he was scheduled to jump last which put him in an excellent position as he knew the time he had to beat to win.
He ended up in a jump-off with Sweden's Ralf-Goran Bengtsson but won easily with a flawless performance.
Standing on top of the podium, Lamaze became emotional as the Canadian national anthem came to an end and his country's flag was hoisted high above him.
The 40-year-old athlete has come a long way in the last decade. He missed the last two Olympics and was given a lifetime ban from competing with the show-jumping team after twice testing positive for cocaine.
"What they wanted to do with me is to take my livelihood away and everything else," Lamaze told The Canadian Press. "I don't think that's constructive to somebody who's struggling, to take their passion away from them. I feel very strongly about that.
"That's what I feel is the biggest lesson to be learned. Everybody does deserve a second chance or a third chance or whatever if you believe that they can actually come back and do some good. And in my case I had a lot of people believing in me."
An arbitrator eventually overturned the ban and Lamaze made a vow to overcome his personal afflictions and reclaim his reputation as one of Canada's elite show jumpers.
"It is an Olympic year so things are coming back and you've got to talk about the past," Lamaze told The Canadian Press before the Games. "Eight years, it's been a long time and I've done a lot of great things in my career since.
"Hopefully after the Olympics are complete that will put the nail in the coffin and put that to sleep."
Drugs aren't the only challenge that Lamaze has had to overcome. He dropped out of junior high school, growing up with little money in a troubled home. He became involved in horse riding -- viewed as an elitist sport by many -- by working in the horse industry in exchange for an opportunity to ride.
The Montreal-born athlete came into the Games as the third highest-ranked horseback rider in the world.
Lamaze, who now lives in Schomberg, Ont. is the second Canadian to ever place in the event. Michel Vaillancourt won an individual silver medal at the 1976 Games in Montreal.
The win gave Lamaze his second medal in this Olympics, making him Canada's first double-medal winner in Beijing. He won silver in team jumping on Monday. The last time Canada won equestrian gold in team jumping was in 1968 at the Mexico Olympics.
Hickstead was a key factor in Thursday's win. The 12-year-old Dutch-bred stallion has been hailed as one of the top-rated equine athletes in the world.
"He is a great horse because he has the ability to win so much week after week," Lamaze recently told the Canadian Press. "He's never sour or tired. He's a world traveller that loves his job."
With files from The Canadian Press
