Hua Tian wins 8th place in the Olympic equestrian event on August 9 in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, and set a record for the country. [Photo by Xia Yuanpu/ provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Rio De Janeiro - China's Alex Hua Tian won 8th place in the Olympic equestrian event on August 9 in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil and made a breakthrough in this event for the country. Don Geniro, Hua's horse, has moved up to 8th after taking down one fence in a strong first round of show jumping.

Hua was born in London to a Chinese father and a British mother, and started riding aged four. As the only Chinese event rider competing internationally, Hua won the silver medal of the individual event on his debut at the Asian Games in South Korea in Sept. 2014.