Beezie
Madden

From a Wisconsin Horse Farm to the Olympic Podium

Elizabeth "Beezie" Madden is an American show jumping champion widely regarded as one of the most successful riders the United States has produced. Over a career spanning decades, she won two Olympic team gold medals, an Olympic individual bronze, and two FEI World Cup Finals, and broke a series of barriers for women in the sport.

Madden was born Elizabeth Patton on November 20, 1963, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the daughter of parents who trained and sold horses. She began riding at the age of three and received her first pony as a young child. She showed in hunters and equitation through her junior years before moving into jumpers, rode competitively for Southern Seminary Junior College, and made her Grand Prix debut at the age of 22. She is based at John Madden Sales in Cazenovia, New York, where her husband and longtime coach, John Madden, manages her career and the training operation.

Team Gold in Athens and Beijing

Madden first represented the United States at the World Equestrian Games in 2002 and made her Olympic debut at the 2004 Athens Games, where she won team gold aboard Authentic alongside Peter Wylde, McLain Ward, and Chris Kappler. That same year she became the first woman ever to surpass $1 million in show jumping earnings.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics she again won team gold — with Laura Kraut, Will Simpson, and McLain Ward — and added an individual bronze on Authentic. She went on to compete at the 2012 London Olympics and the 2016 Rio Olympics, where she earned team silver aboard Cortes 'C' at the age of 52, the oldest female athlete on the U.S. Olympic team in Rio.

• Olympic team gold — 2004 Athens (Authentic) and 2008 Beijing
• Olympic individual bronze — 2008 Beijing (Authentic)
• Olympic team silver — 2016 Rio (Cortes 'C')
• Four-time Olympian — 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016
• FEI World Cup Finals champion — 2013 (Simon) and 2018 (Breitling LS)
• First woman to surpass $1 million in show jumping earnings
• First American and first woman in the world ranking top three
• World Equestrian Games medals — team & individual silver 2006 (Authentic); team & individual bronze 2014 (Cortes 'C')
• USEF Equestrian of the Year — 2006, 2007, 2013, 2014

A Series of Firsts for Women in Show Jumping

Madden's career is marked by milestone firsts. In 2004 she became the first American — and the first woman — to reach the top three of the FEI world ranking list, and the first woman to pass the million-dollar earnings mark in the sport. Her 2008 individual Olympic bronze was the first individual Olympic show jumping medal won by an American woman.

She twice won the FEI World Cup Finals, taking the title in Gothenburg in 2013 aboard Simon and again in 2018 aboard Breitling LS — a victory that, at age 54, made her the oldest athlete to win the World Cup Final. She was also a multiple-time USEF Equestrian of the Year, named in 2006, 2007, 2013, and 2014.

Great Partnerships and a Turn Toward Teaching

Madden's success was built on partnerships with a string of distinguished horses, most notably the Dutch Warmblood gelding Authentic, owned by Abigail Wexner, who carried her to both Olympic team golds and the 2008 individual bronze before retiring to the Horse Stars Hall of Fame. Other stars of her string included Cortes 'C', Judgement, Simon, Breitling LS, and Coral Reef Via Volo.

In 2020, Madden announced that she would shift her focus after the Tokyo Olympic cycle toward developing young horses and riders through John Madden Sales — carrying her decades of championship experience into the next generation of American show jumping.