Ian Millar is pumped for Olympics No. 9.
The 61-year-old equestrian from Perth, Ont., was named to the Canadian Olympic show jumping team Tuesday.
Eric Lamaze of Schomberg, Ont., Mac Cone of King City, Ont., and Jill Henselwood of Oxford Mills, Ont., round out the riders chosen by Jump Canada's selection committee.
Millar has ridden in every Olympic Games since 1972. His ninth appearance will tie the international record held by Austrian sailor Hubert Raudaschl.
"When you do the math, it's fairly significant," Millar said Tuesday. "It's quite thrilling.
"It would have been 10 if not for the boycott of Moscow in (1980). It's a tremendous honour to represent Canada."
While the majority of Olympic sports will be staged in and around Beijing, equestrian is in Hong Kong because of horse quarantine restrictions on mainland China.
Millar is the equestrian team's nominee to carry Canada's flag into the opening ceremony in Beijing on Aug. 8.
The Canadian Olympic Committee is expected to announce its selection of a flagbearer in early July.
"Very interested in doing that," Millar said. "That would be a once-in-a-lifetime honour to lead the great team into Olympic Stadium."
Also Tuesday, Calgary's Kyle Carter and Sandra Donnelly, Selena O'Hanlon of Elgin, Ont., Jessica Phoenix of Uxbridge, Ont., and Toronto's Michael Winter were named to the Olympic eventing team.
In eventing, the horse and rider perform in dressage, cross-country and jumping on consecutive days.
There is also a separate dressage event at the Games. The Canadian team, announced earlier this month includes Toronto's Ashley Holzer, Jacqueline Brooks of Mt. Albert, Ont., and Leslie Reid of Langley, B.C.
Equestrian starts Aug. 9 with eventing at the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
In show jumping, medals are given out in both team and individual events.
While Millar, Lamaze and Henselwood were expected to be on Canada's team, Cone was up against stiff competition from Calgary's Jonathan Asselin, who was selected as a travelling reserve rider, and Mario Deslauriers of Bromont, Que., chosen as an alternate.
"Mac is a top rider and he's got a horse that this winter in Florida came on strongly," said Terrance Millar, Jump Canada's high performance director who isn't related to Ian Millar.
Cone was a member of the Canada's team at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
He and his current horse Ole won a $60,000 Grand Prix in Wellington, Fla,. and were part of the Canadian team that finished second in a Nations Cup there in March.
Lamaze and his horse Hickstead are currently No. 4 in the world rankings and won the $200,000 CN Reliability Grand Prix at Spruce Meadows earlier this month.
"Eric Lamaze has the strongest chance at a medal given his rank of fourth in the world," Terrance Millar said.
Henselwood, the lone woman named to the team, and Special Ed won the Pan American Games gold medal last summer in Rio de Janiero.
After eight Olympics, eight Pan Am Games and six world championships, Ian Millar is by far the country's most experienced rider internationally.
He's nominated to the team with two horses: In Style and Redefin.
Millar plans to take In Style to Hong Kong, but if In Style is unable to travel, Redefin is his backup.
Horses can easily get injured during training or become ill, so it isn't uncommon for reserve riders to be pressed into service.
What sets this team apart from Canadian teams of the past is the calibre of the horses.
"We've always had one or two really very good horses, but not four," Millar said. "This time, for sure, for sure, there's an excellent group ready to go.
"The horses, we've got to get them all right on form in the same time frame and if that happens, I think we've got an excellent chance for a medal."
Canada last won an Olympic medal in equestrian at the 1976 Games in Montreal where Michel Vaillancourt took the silver. Canada also won a team gold in 1968 in Mexico City.
Millar went alone to Athens in 2004 because Canada didn't qualify a full team.
But a silver medal in last year's Pan Ams by Millar, Henselwood and Lamaze returned a Canadian team to the Games.
"It's great to be going over with a full team, especially since it's harder and harder each year to qualify," Terrance Millar pointed out. "There are some powerhouse countries out there that didn't, like France, Belgium and Ireland."
Canada is one of five countries sending teams for all three Olympic disciplines and the Paralympic equestrian event.
In eventing the rider-horse combinations are: Carter (Madison Park); Donnelly (Buenos Aires); O'Hanlon (Colombo); Phoenix (Exploring); Winter (King Pin).