London 2012: Equestrianism progress report

There is just two years to go until London 2012 and competition is hotting up for team selection, especially in the equestrian sports.

Last week, The Guardian did an interesting report on the progress of different sports, and looked ahead to see how they may fare in the 2012 Olympics. Please visithttp://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/jul/26/london-2012-equestrianism-olympics to see their full report.

Equestrianism has developed over the past year and the question on everyones lips is what must they do next to meet the Olympic medal target?

Will Connell, performance director commented,

“In the past year we have won five medals in Olympic equestrian sport. This includes crowning Tina Cook the European Eventing Champion, retaining the eventing team title for the eighth consecutive European Championships and adding team and individual European dressage medals to the tally. Six new European titles were won by the para-equestrian dressage squad and they remain unbeaten as a team.”

“It is still a long way off but I would like to think equestrianism will contribute to the medal table as it has done at previous Games.” added Connell.

One hopeful, Zara Phillips, who did not reveal any names or pedigrees about potential new horse, has said that it would be “amazing” to make her Olympic debut at the Games in her home country.

“I think that everyone went out when we heard that London got the Olympics and went looking trying to find something that would be the right age and experience for 2012,” she continued.

“There have been a lot of people [potential Olympic medallists] who have been in the running and had to pull out because of having a horse injured, and hopefully I will get there.”

To find out progress reports from other sports please visit http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/series/london-2012-two-years-to-go

A video for you!!