Stives was part of the United States contingent who won gold on home soil in Los Angeles in 1984 and also secured individual silver at the event on board Ben Arthur.

Her achievements in 1984 saw her become one of three women to stand on the podium as one of the first female three-day eventing medallists in Olympic history.

The American rider is a member of the United States Eventing Hall of Fame and was named the United States Eventing Association (USEA) Rider of the Year on three separate occasions - in 1981, 1987 and again a year later in 1988.

“The USEA is very sad to hear of the passing of Hall of Fame member, Karen Stives, who lost her long battle with lung cancer at the age of 64,” a USEA statement read.

“Karen was a New England rider who rose to the top of international competition through sheer diligence, hard work and plenty of natural ability.”

As well as her achievements at the Olympic Games, she represented her country at several top-level competitions, including the World Championships in Luhmuhlen, Germany in 1982.

Following her retirement from an illustrious career in the sport, Stives went on to become a judge for the International Equestrian Federation and the American eventing team’s Three-Day Event Selectors' Committee.

In 2014, she donated $1 million (£654,000/€887,000) to the USET Foundation which became known as the Karen E. Stives Endowment Fund for High Performance Eventing.

The Foundation aims to help the development of eventers by awarding them grants in order to enable them to able to compete at various events for their country.

She also gave $3.5 million (£2.3 million/€3.1 million) to her former school, Dana Hall School, to support its equestrian programme.