Xavier Lesage

Francois Xavier Edmond Marie Lesage, born October 25, 1885, and died August 3, 1968, was a French horse rider who competed in Olympic dressage across two decades. At the 1932 Los Angeles Games he won two gold medals, one in individual dressage riding his horse Taine and another with the French team dressage squad; earlier, at the 1924 Paris Olympics, he had won bronze in individual dressage riding a horse named Plumard. He served as a colonel in the French military, was honored with the Legion of Honour, and commanded the Cadre Noir, the elite black-uniformed riding squadron of the Saumur cavalry school, earning him the nickname Grand Dieu. He was born in Moret-sur-Loing and spent his final years in Gisors, France.