While the eventing and dressage horses have been shipping and settling in to Rio all week, the show jumpers are still tying up the loose ends at their respective training camps around the world. The jumpers will begin the initial rounds of competition in Rio on August 14.
American Beezie Madden (maybe you’ve heard of her?) and Cortes ‘C’ — known as Tiny around the barn — have been prepping in the Netherlands before flying out this weekend, and they gave us a small, slo-mo preview of the fun we’ll be seeing in just ten short days!
Beezie also made headlines this past week as a leading nominee to carry the flag for Team USA in the opening ceremonies. And for good reason: The 52-year-old veteran is making her fourth Olympic appearance, and has a team gold medal to her name. The honor ultimately went to swimmer Michael Phelps, but the equestrian community made a hard push, giving her a whopping 27% of the vote out of 17 nominated candidates.
Lucy Davis, Mclain Ward, Kent Farrington and alternate Laura Kraut will all be heading out in the next few days to make the long journey to South America, along with the international riders from all corners of the globe. We’ll be sure to bring you every social media snippet we can find in the days to come.
Go Olympics, and Go Jumping!