Tom McEwen’s groom Adam Short on the Paris Olympics: ‘The medal ceremony was like when Adele steps out on stage’

Adam Short has been a top-level eventing groom for eight years, but he says the Paris Olympics, where he looked after Tom McEwen’s team gold medallist JL Dublin, was when his friends from home finally started to appreciate what he does.

“They were watching TV or seeing pictures and thinking, ‘Oh, he’s actually doing something with his life – I don’t get what it is, but wow, it’s good, because he’s at the Olympics.’ It was a bit of an eye-0pener for them,” he says, grinning as he revisits the Paris memories five weeks after the Games.

Life has been busy for Adam since he returned – it’s been a non-stop whirl of other events, plus he’s been in demand for media interviews.

“I’ve got a big mouth – I find talking too easy,” he smiles. “But it’s really nice to be able to share the experience with other people and I have an unusual story because I came from a riding school and I’m very much still in touch with them.

“The riding school is Stepney Bank Stables, it’s in the middle of Newcastle and it’s a charity too.  It’s showing the young people who are there now what is achievable. I’m always so grateful for them and where I started. It’s nice that I can now give back to them and return what they gave me when I was young.”

Adam says the Paris experience was different to the previous year’s championship, the Europeans, as there were only four British grooms at the Olympics compared to six at Haras du Pin.

He says: “It felt really close knit and like a family vibe. We all get along so well and it was the perfect group of people. We also spent quite a lot of time with the support team – Liz Brown the vet, Vicky Spalding the physio, Greig Elliott the farrier, Dickie Waygood and Chris Bartle [performance manager and coach].

“The Olympics is really serious but we had a lot of fun as well, so it was just doing what I normally do, but with a smile on my face and treasuring every moment.”

The eventing grooms all stayed in a hotel five minutes cycle ride from the stables, which Adam said created a great communal atmosphere among the grooms of different nationalities. Their meals were provided there free, there was a bar and one night they had a grooms’ party. The Brits also went to the Olympic Village to take photos with the Olympic rings once the competition was over.

“When I stood by the Olympic rings and went in the food hall, that really opened my eyes up that this is the real deal,” Adam says.

Adam’s charge JL Dublin, owned by Jo and James Lambert and Deirdre Johnston, loves an atmosphere and is easy to look after.

“He’s perfect in every way. You take him for a walk and he doesn’t drag you around and he eats all his food. You say action time and he performs, you say chill time and he chills out.”

Adam is still in touch with Ruth Asquith, who looked after “Dubs” when he was ridden by Nicola Wilson.

He explains: “It was really helpful that when he first came to ours, she gave us three or four pages of notes saying everything about him. If I had any questions or concerns, I was on the phone to her – she knows him like the back of her hand – and now every time we go somewhere, I get a good luck message or I’ll let her know what we’re doing.”

The highlight of being a groom at the Paris Olympics for Adam Short was standing in the arena for the medal ceremony, which he describes as “the most surreal thing I’ve ever experienced”.

“The noise was incredible – so many people, clapping, stomping their feet, the cheers. I had goosebumps from head to toe and from the minute I walked in, I was beaming. It was like when Adele steps out on stage. Our horses just stood so perfectly, soaking it all in,” he says.

This week, Adam is at the Defender Burghley Horse Trials grooming for Tom and CHF Cooliser (Eliza), as he did when she was 12th here in 2022.

“When I loaded her to come here, she kind of stopped for a minute and looked and said, ‘No one else?’ And I said yes, all the attention for you. She’s just so precious.”

Tom McEwen is currently advertising for more staff – “it’s always good to have fresh blood and young people that want to learn, and more experienced people with different opinions,” says Adam – and Adam is ambitious to continue his career with more championships, including the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.

He says: “Now Paris is finished, you forget about the run-up, which is not always a very nice time. You don’t find out until the last minute you’re selected, and then you’re wrapping your horse in cotton wool. Dubs is a really solid, sound horse, but anything can happen. So the run-up is not always the most relaxing time. But when you go and you have a successful time, you forget about all that, and you’re thinking about the next one.

“Paris would definitely be a big standout in my career and I’d love to do other Games, and keep carrying on doing all these Badmintons, Burghleys, championships for as long as I can, because that’s what puts fire in my belly, what I enjoy.”

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