Equestrian Olympic champion. Born in Galashiels, Stark worked there as a clerk in the social security office. He gained his first Olympic success with a silver medal in the three-day event in the Los Angeles Games of 1984. He followed with silver medals in the team event and three-day event in the Seoul Games of 1988, a silver in the World Championships (1990), two gold medals in the 1991 European Championship, a further gold in the 1997 European Championship and a silver in the team event in the Sydney Olympic Games (2000). He won the Badminton Horse Trials in 1986, 1988 and 1999. In the 1988 event he made history by coming both first and second, in the same event, on two different horses.
Stark was awarded an OBE in 2001 and continues to live at New Greenhill, between Selkirk and Ashkirk in the Scottish Borders, where he runs the Ian Stark Equestrian Centre.
