Zara Phillips makes the 2012 Great Britain Olympic Team


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Expect interest in the equestrian events to be enormous amongst the British people. The nation more or less stopped when the Queen's horse was the favourite for the Epsom Derby last year.

As much as performing in a home Olympics must be amazing and motivating; it must also come with huge pressure, which is probably magnified again when you're the granddaughter of the nation's Queen. Zara's going to have to show enormous mental strength to deal with it all. The Princess Royal is probably the best person to help her with that.
 
Congratulations to Zara! What an achievement! I hope she does well at the Games:flowers:
 
I think her father would be the best person to help her because he has actually been the three games as a competitor and more as a coach and has won medals. Anne went to one games and fell, costing her team of any chance of a medal (which many people at the time believed they would have won had the reserve on that team been in the team instead of Anne - the reserve was Mark).

As good as Anne was the true champion eventer was Mark and Zara has also been coached by her father for a large part of her career because Mark has made his living from coaching eventers and setting event courses, including Olympic standard courses, while Anne has been more involved at the IOC level not the grassroots level of eventing since her retirement.

I am not trying to put down Anne's wonderful achievements but to simply point out that Zara has a better qualified parent in her corner than her mother and that person is her father.
 
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I meant more along the lines of being a 'royal' competing at a Games with all the attendant press attention that follows.
 
Iluvbertie said:
I think her father would be the best person to help her because he has actually been the three games as a competitor and more as a coach and has one medals. Anne went to one games and fell, costing her team of any chance of a medal (which many people at the time believed they would have one had the reserve on that team been in the team instead of Anne - the reserve was Mark).

As good as Anne was the true champion eventer was Mark and Zara has also been coached by her father for a large part of her career because Mark has made his living from coaching eventers and setting event courses, including Olympic standard courses, while Anne has been more involved at the IOC level not the grassroots level of eventing since her retirement.

I am not trying to put down Anne's wonderful achievements but to simply point out that Zara has a better qualified parent in her corner than her mother and that person is her father.
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I would totally agree with this. I am so happy that she will be on the team. Honestly, in that I'll fitting wedding gown, I thought she was pregnant.
 
great great for zara!!! great year for anne too a grandaughter and now zara with this great news!! she sure is so proud!
 
What does Zara do for a job or does she have an inheritance that she lives on? I assume her mother pays for the upkeep of the horses?


LaRae
 
Pranter said:
What does Zara do for a job or does she have an inheritance that she lives on? I assume her mother pays for the upkeep of the horses?


LaRae
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You know her horses aren't all owned by her, right? Toytown was, but her Olympic horse, High Kingdom isn't- he's owned by others, and she campaigns him.
 
Well I assumed someone else owned most if not all of them...but I wasn't sure who owned them. Seeing as how her mother is quite involved in horses too I thought she might own some of them.


LaRae
 
:previous:
Zara has been riding High Kingdom since 2007 but, like most riders, she doesn't own the horse. The owner is Trevor Hemmings, a businessman and philanthropist, who was awarded CVO in the 2011 Birthday Honours list.

Hemmings owns over 100 racehorses, including the Hedgehunter (winner of the 2005 Grand National), Trabolgan (winner of the Royal & SunAlliance Chase in 2005 and Hennessey Gold Cup in the same year), Albertas Run (winner of Royal & SunAlliance Chase in 2008, and Ryanair Chase in 2010 and 2011), and Ballabriggs (winner of 2011 Aintree Grand National).
 
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Zara has won the silver medal!!
 
How wonderful for her!
 
Yay!!! Congratulations!!!
 
Congrats to Zara!! How exciting to medal at home!!
 
Photo I'd like to see:

The Queen and Zara wearing their Olympic medals.:lol:

Congrats to Zara! Many more medals to come I hope!
 
What's great for Zara is, she could go on competing in this sport for many years yet. Mary King, one of Zara's teammates, is 51 and still performing really well. She could have a few more Olympics in her, all being well. She clearly has a lot of talent and has justified her selection without any doubt.
 
EIIR said:
What's great for Zara is, she could go on competing in this sport for many years yet. Mary King, one of Zara's teammates, is 51 and still performing really well. She could have a few more Olympics in her, all being well. She clearly has a lot of talent and has justified her selection without any doubt.
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yes and it sounds as Mark Phillips is taking over the coaching of the British team after the Olympics. I hope this is the beginning of a long fruitful olympic career for Zara.
 
MichelleQ2 said:
yes and it sounds as Mark Phillips is taking over the coaching of the British team after the Olympics. I hope this is the beginning of a long fruitful olympic career for Zara.
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Hadn't heard that. I thought Mark was house hunting in Florida and relocating there with the new lady in his life.
 
NGalitzine said:
Hadn't heard that. I thought Mark was house hunting in Florida and relocating there with the new lady in his life.
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the commentators this morning were saying the Canadian coach is Karen O'Connor's husband is taking over USA and Mark Phillips is moving to UK - how accurate either of those items is IDK - they just mentioned them in the coverage.
 
Are there any pictures of Zara receiving her medal from her mother? Coverage of the olympics here in the US is horrible - they totally ignore any country except the US, and then it's only swimming, basketball and gymnastics.
 
Princess Anne kept it very professional really, as you would expect from her. She kissed Zara on both cheeks and got on with it. Anne knows this wasn't just Zara's achievement but the achievement of all those standing on the podium.
 
MichelleQ2 said:
yes and it sounds as Mark Phillips is taking over the coaching of the British team after the Olympics. I hope this is the beginning of a long fruitful olympic career for Zara.
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I think the only caveat for Zara is that she obviously wants to have children, so it's a matter of fitting that in. One of the BBC interviewers asked her afterwards if she would turn her attention to Rio 2016 now, and she swiftly told him to pretty much hold his horses (pun intended!).
 
:previous:
She has four years to fit a little one in, so I doubt that will be an obstacle for taking part in Rio 2016 - provided, of course, she continues delivering on the same level and has no problems with High Kingdom.
 
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