February 10, 2022 
Each week on #HallOfFameThursday, Horse Network recognizes members of the Show Jumping Hall of Fame with an inductee’s plaque, historical photos and, on the first Thursday of every month, an historic article on a major win by a Show Jumping Hall of Famer. This week, we recognize Frank Chapot, Show Jumping Hall of Fame class of 1994.
Six-time Olympic Show Jumping rider Frank Chapot first joined the United States Equestrian Team in 1956, as its youngest member and while still on active duty with the U.S. Air Force.
For the next twenty years, Chapot compiled an enviable record with the USET: two Olympic Silver Medals, an individual Bronze in the 1974 World Championships, participating on a record 46 winning Nations’ Cup teams, and gaining victories in such prestigious events as the President’s Cup, the Grand Prix of New York, and London’s George V Gold Cup. His riding style, a combination of electrifying speed, utter determination and intense competitiveness, contributed to the election of two of his mounts to the Show Jumping Hall of Fame—San Lucas and Trail Guide.
After phasing out his career as a USET rider, Chapot became the Team’s show jumping chef d’equipe, helping the Team attain two historic and previously elusive goals: first-ever team Gold Medals in the Olympic Games in 1984, and in the World Championships in 1986.
In the 1988 Olympics, Chapot’s contribution to the Team’s Silver Medal went far beyond his role as chef d’equipe. Greg Best, the individual Silver Medalist, was Chapot’s pupil, and Best’s mount, Gem Twist, was a horse of Chapot’s own breeding and a son of another top Chapot mount, Good Twist. Two years later, Gem Twist was named “Best Horse” at the Stockholm World Championships, and thrice he earned AGA Horse of the Year honors.
The USET Vice President for Show Jumping for many years, Chapot also had an active career as a course designer and judge, and for years he rode timber races with considerable success, twice being placed in the Maryland Hunt Cup.
He married the former Mary Mairs, twice his Olympic teammate and the first American rider to win a show jumping Pan American Games individual Gold Medal. Both their daughters, Wendy and Laura, became expert equestrians.
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