Mario Deslauriers

Biography

Mario Deslauriers will make his fourth Olympic appearance at Paris 2024, four decades after he made his Olympic debut at Los Angeles 1984. 

Deslauriers was just 19 years old when in 1984 he became the first Canadian and the youngest rider to ever win the FEI World Cup Final, a record Deslauriers still holds today. In his Olympic debut at Los Angeles 1984, he finished fourth with Aramis following a three-way jump-off for the individual bronze medal. 

He returned to the Olympics four years later at Seoul 1988 where he and the Canadian jumping team finished fourth for the second straight Olympic Games. Thirty-three years after that Olympic appearance, Deslauriers competed at Tokyo 2020 where he and Bardolina 2 posted a clean round in the individual qualifier before finishing 22^nd in the final. 

In 2006, Deslauriers was a member of the Canadian team that scored its first victory in the $350,000 BMO Nations Cup at Spruce Meadows in Calgary. In 2009, Deslauriers was given an opportunity to ride for an American owner and began representing the United States in international competition. He returned to riding for Canada in 2017 and represented his birth country at the 2018 World Equestrian Games in Tryon, North Carolina and the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru. He made another Pan Am Games appearance at Santiago 2023 where he and his horse Emerson contributed to Canada’s silver medal in team jumping which qualified a full jumping team for Canada for Paris 2024.  

A Little More About Mario 

Getting into the Sport: Began riding as a child at the Bromont Equestrian Centre, site of the 1976 Olympic Games, with his father Roger… Outside Interests: Enjoys golf, skiing, tennis… Odds and Ends: Wife Lisa and daughter Lucy are both competitive show jumpers…