Royals Who Are Competing in Olympics 2012

[Warren]

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Royals Who Are Competing
at the 2012 London Olympics


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[dazzling]

UAE
Shaikh Saeed bin Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum - skeet-shooting
Sheikh Juma bin Dalmook Al Maktoum - double trap shooting

Great Britain
Zara Phillips - Eventing

Denmark
Princess Nathalie zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg - Dressage

 

[Artemisia]

Zara and her father, Mark Phillips (trainer of the US eventing team), met in the Equestrian arena in Greenwich, London on July 25, 2012.
- Zara and Mark 1
- Zara and Mike 2
Gallery from Daylife

Zara looks nervous, which is quite understandable.
Although Mark is US eventing team trainer, I don't think there is a doubt who he'll be supporting during the Olympics.

 

[dazzling]

It's nice seeing him with his daughter, for no doubt he will be giving her advise and will be supporting her all the way.

 

[dazzling]

LONDON 2012: SHEIKH SAEED LOOKS TO FIRE UAE TO GLORY
Article

 

[wymanda]

It's nice seeing him with his daughter, for no doubt he will be giving her advise and will be supporting her all the way.

Given the fact that he is the Head Coach for the USA team I would say that professionally his daughter is giving him a wide berth. Personally I doubt she is very fond of dear old dad at the moment.

 

[ghost_night554]

I just got the starting order and Zara will be competing on Day 2. Sorry didn't know where to put this
London 2012 – Eventing Dressage Ride Times… Boyd Is First and Mark Todd Last! | Horse Junkies United

 

[cdngirl]

Has Zara competed yet? I've been so busy I haven't caught alot of the olympics, and I don't want to miss her. I'm really pulling for her. I remember she said or somebody said she wouldn't be at the opening ceromonies because she was competing the next day, but I haven't heard anything.

 

[ghost_night554]

Has Zara competed yet? I've been so busy I haven't caught alot of the olympics, and I don't want to miss her. I'm really pulling for her. I remember she said or somebody said she wouldn't be at the opening ceromonies because she was competing the next day, but I haven't heard anything.

No tomorrow she will be at 10:18am UK time. I cannot find any stations airing it live except NBC Extra and BBC Olympics but I can't access it so I'm stuck with the tape delayed version on OLN at 7am PST

 

[ghost_night554]

Watching Zara right now haven't seen the Duke yet

 

[Iluvbertie]

I missed Zara's ride because a friend rang and my TV is in a different room but her result is quite good - at this stage she is the second best of the British riders and is about 9th overall - of course they are only about half way through the dressage so that could change a bit over the course of the day.

 

[dazzling]

Zara completed the dressage test for the eventing with a total of 46.10 points.

Daylife picture gallery

Zara Phillips makes Olympic equestrian debut, earns respectable score despite mistake
Article

 

[Mademoiselle Lilo]

i thought that Charlotte of Monaco will be Competing this year too.am i wrong?

 

[HRHHermione]

i thought that Charlotte of Monaco will be Competing this year too.am i wrong?

Yes. Charlotte rides at the 1* level and it's unlikely that she'll ever compete in the Olympics.

I missed Zara's ride because a friend rang and my TV is in a different room but her result is quite good - at this stage she is the second best of the British riders and is about 9th overall - of course they are only about half way through the dressage so that could change a bit over the course of the day.

Good for her! Dressage is typically her weakest area and cross country's her strongest, so she's off to a good start.

 

[MichelleQ2]

Good for her! Dressage is typically her weakest area and cross country's her strongest, so she's off to a good start.

I'm not that familiar with the equestrian events. Can someone provide some info. I understand this is a 3 part competition ... And I believe this is individual .. Is there a team competition as well? And specifically the events. Any info appreciated. Just trying to get an understanding on how many opportunities Zara has.... Or all eggs in this one basket?

 

[EIIR]

Michelle, I think Zara's in the team event as well as the individual. The BBC commentary mentioned that her dressage was exactly what the team needed as it kept them in 3rd place overall, and they want to be at least 3rd heading into the cross-country. I think the individual competition runs alongside the team competition, but I'm not sure.

 

[FasterB]

Princess Nathalie (and the danish team) will be competing on the 2nd and 3rd of August

 

[ElisaR]

Nice pictures. And the Duke seems to enjoy the event.

I couldn't watch Zara because the Italian TV was focusing on other sports where Italians where competing. They usually show very small bits of equestrian events, and I won't get a chance to watch Zara live in the next days, unless there is an Italian athlete just after her...

 

[ghost_night554]

So for those wondering Zara competes again tomorrow starting at 4:30am PST. For Canadians OLN will be airing this live(unless schedule changes once again) The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge along with Prince Harry are scheduled to attend.

 

[Thena]

Here's a weird quirk: the cross country starts at 7:30 EDT (4:30 PDT). However, NBC Sports Network has the cross country on their schedule from 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM EDT. I don't know where Zara Phillips will fall in their line-up, but they will definitely include her somewhere in their coverage.

Nice pictures. And the Duke seems to enjoy the event.

I couldn't watch Zara because the Italian TV was focusing on other sports where Italians where competing. They usually show very small bits of equestrian events, and I won't get a chance to watch Zara live in the next days, unless there is an Italian athlete just after her...

Oddly enough, NBC Sports Network only showed 5 riders from today's eventing and one of them was an Italian who scored in the top 3. But he wasn't competing directly after her and we were getting a taped recap.

 

[Daria_S]

Glad to see that Zara is doing well. Hopefully she'll get what she is hoping to out of these Games.

 

[Iluvbertie]

The Three Day Eventing event runs over 4 days. This allows for more competitors and teams.

Each of the teams is allowed up to 5 members and the best three of their scores count. Individuals are also able qualify.

This year they are running the team and individual events at the same time - which they did in past years although I remember in Sydney the two events were separated but many of the top eventers simply don't have two equally good horses and they can't use the same horse for two competitions at this level within a two week period.

Day 1 (or at the Olympics Days 1 and 2) is the dressage where the horse and rider ride around a relatively small arena to a set pattern and they are scored based on the performance such as how they change from canter to walk and back again.

Day 2 - the Cross Country involves horse and rider riding over a series of obstacles along a 5 km course. Falls and refusals see a competitor disqualified (Anne fell in this event in 1976 and was put back on her horse but now it is automatic disqualification - for the health and safety of horse and rider).

Day 3 is the Show Jumping and will see the horses and riders back at the dressage venue but this time jumping with again a set number of refusals resulting in disqualification and penalties applied if they knock down a jump. Mark Philips has made some of his living over the last 3 decades from designing courses for various competitions for this stage of the event.

After the three stages the best individual score wins gold and the team with the best three combined scores - not best three individual scores. This means that the best three dressage scores from the team will count even if those aren't the best three performers in the other two sections.

Zara is sitting in =24th after all the dressage has been completed and Britian is sitting third - Zara's score won't have counted for the GB team as she was the 4th best placed of the British team but will of course count for her own performance as an individual.

In 2002 I was at the cross country course and saw Anne - not up close but she was walking around the VIPy section and seemed to be enjoying her day - as were most of the rest of us - particularly as the Aussies moved into 1st place and went on to win the gold the next day.

 

[Daria_S]

Thank you for clarifying this. Very helpful.

 

[4Pam]

Wonder if The Queen/DoE and the rest of the family will attend the equestrian events to watch Zara? It would be nice to see see Louise and James cheering on their cousin.

 

[Iluvbertie]

Philip was there yesterday, along with Anne and Mike. No doubt her father was also there cheering her on along with cheering for the US team considering that he is the coach of the US team.

With the cross country it is possible that they could be there as the course is a long one - at about 5km in length. I know it Sydney there were 1000s of people there but most people only saw a couple of 100 based on where they were standing at the time - no seating for the Cross Country, although people did have blankets or picnic rugs etc.

 

[dazzling]

Zara is #40 in the eventing, her start time is 15:06GMT today

Kate to watch Zara Phillips after her 'amazing' Olympic debut
HelloMagazine.com (includes a picture gallery of Zara's performance at the dressage event)

 

[Lumutqueen]

Wonder if The Queen/DoE and the rest of the family will attend the equestrian events to watch Zara? It would be nice to see see Louise and James cheering on their cousin.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Harry are due to attend today and tomorrow, albeit they were said to attend yesterday and never showed.

 

[Iluvbertie]

Is it that they didn't show or is it that they weren't seen? It is possible that they could have been in a box somewhere and not been out publicly cheering on their cousin in case they distracted her.

The commentators here were talking about the fact that the photographers weren't taking photos of the action when Philip arrived but were only interested in taking his photo.

A thought.

 

[Lumutqueen]

You'd think hiding away from the cameras wasn't a priority when supporting your cousin. If we can get pictures of a supposed "imposter" in Catherine's Jubilee outfit and hat, i'm sure the press would have found them supporting Zara, wherever they hid. For me, it's quite obvious commitments for William got in the way and Catherine decided not to go on her own.

 

[dazzling]

You'd think hiding away from the cameras wasn't a priority when supporting your cousin. If we can get pictures of a supposed "imposter" in Catherine's Jubilee outfit and hat, i'm sure the press would have found them supporting Zara, wherever they hid. For me, it's quite obvious commitments for William got in the way and Catherine decided not to go on her own.

If they were there then I would guess the press would be more interested in the couple than Zara's performance (its the same how one argues why Kate doesn't show up to certain events or dress in color while around the queen so she doesn't get all the attention etc). I simple think the couple were not attending.

Good news - Britain so far is ranking 2nd place. Zara hasn't competed yet but there is a high chance for a team win. I also hope for an individual win for Zara but that will have to wait for at least today event to be completed.