2012 London Paralympic Equestrian Competition Begins at Greenwich Park
(USPEA) – London, England, United Kingdom-August 29, 2012
- Every tear shed, every mile traveled,
and every salute in the show ring over the last few years have now led to this
moment at the 2012 London Paralympic Equestrian competition held in Greenwich
Park. Before riders and coaches could breathe a sigh of relief seventy-eight
horse and rider combinations stepped forward for the official horse inspection.
Each team and individual presented their mounts at a trot in front of the
competition officials including the veterinary commission and ground jury. Each
horse was carefully examined before being given the official nod to compete in
the 2012 Paralympic Equestrian Games scheduled for August 30th
through September 4th. The horse inspection began in alphabetical order
according to the International Paralympic Committee abbreviations. Henceforth,
the United States watched 74 horses approach horse inspection before Lord
Ludger, NTEC Richter Scale, Western Rose, and Bonifatius were given the salute
to continue on to the first day of Para-Dressage competition.
Four dashing United States members dressed in exquisite
Ralph Lauren red, white, and blue attire formally presented each United States’
equine. These handlers included: United States Paralympic Equestrian Chef
d’Equipe Missy Ransehousen presenting Lord Ludger for United States Team Captain
Rebecca Hart; owner Kai Handt leading NTEC Richter Scale for Jonathan Wentz;
owner Wes Dunham of Western Rose for equestrian Donna Ponessa; and groom Meagan
Szarek presenting Bonifatius for rider Dale Dedrick.
Meagan Szarek noted, “The whole Paralympic experience
has been wonderful. It really gives a humbling prospective about what
able-bodied individuals take for granted on a daily basis. It is very motivating
watching and working with each of these athletes on the United States
Para-Equestrian Team. I am honored to be a part of it all and share this
experience with so many talented Equestrians from around the world.”
Out of the 78 horses from 26 nations only two horses
were asked to return for additional inspection. These two horses will be
evaluated further before the competition begins on Thursday. Grade II will be
the first Grade in the incredibly designed Greenwich Park Arena to show in the
Team Test competition. The first horse will enter the ring at 9:00 a.m. on
Thursday with the final Grade II trotting down centerline at 12:35 p.m. Grade Ib
will begin at 14:15 p.m. and the last Grade Ib athlete will finish at 16:35
p.m.
United States Para-Equestrian Dressage Grade II rider
Dale Dedrick and Bonifatius of Ann Arbor, Mich. will compete at 9:30 a.m in the
Team Test competition while Grade II Rebecca Hart aboard Lord Ludger of
Unionville, Penn., will compete at 10:30 a.m. Jonathan Wentz and NTEC Richter
Scale of Richardson, TX will compete at 4:15 p.m. in Grade Ib and final United
States Para-Equestrian Donna Ponessa and Western Rose of New Windsor, NY will
compete in the Team Test on Friday.
The Overall Team Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals will be
determined based on the top three rider’s percentage scores for their country.
Each rider will compete in the Team Test and his or her score will be combined
with the Individual Test for an overall percentage score. The top three rider’s
scores from each country will be compared for the final score for the Team
medals.
The Individual Medals will include a Gold, Silver, and
Bronze for each of the five grades (Grade Ia, Ib, II, III, and IV. These medals
will be determined based on each rider’s individual performance score on the
Individual Test. The Freestyle Medals will also include a Gold, Silver, and
Bronze for each of the five grades.
This week Rebecca Hart was nominated as the Team Captain
of the United States Paralympic Team. This is an honor for her as she adds her
name to the list of team captains before her. Rebecca commented, “This has been
a really fabulous experience not just for our team but for Para-Equestrian
Dressage. London is the birthplace of the Para-Equestrian sport and it feels
great to represent our country in this wonderful city. As we watched each of our
horses jog in the horse inspection we were impressed with the beauty of the
backdrop of the equestrian venue at Greenwich Park, The Queen’s
House.
Donna Ponessa agreed, “It makes me really proud to be an
American and represent our country in the birthplace of the Para-Equestrian
movement. I am also really proud to have made this journey with my support staff
and team. We have accomplished a lot in a relatively short amount of time and I
am pretty overwhelmed about being here.”
The Paralympic Equestrian Competition begins on August
30 and concludes on September 4th.
THE UNITED STATES PARALYMPIC
EQUESTRIAN TEAM NOMINATED BY THE UNITED STATES EQUESTRIAN
FEDERATION
Rebecca Hart, 27, of Unionville, Penn.
and Jessica Ransehousen’s Holsteiner gelding Lord Ludger
Jonathan Wentz, 21, of Richardson, Texas
and Kai Handt’s 18 year-old NTEC Richter Scale
Donna Ponessa, 51, of New Windsor, N.Y.
and Wesley Dunham’s Oldenburg mare Western Rose
Dale Dedrick, 56, of Ann Arbor, Mich.
and her 14 year-old grey Hanoverian Bonifatius
Team Staff:
Missy Ransehousen (Unionville, PA)- Chef
d’Equipe
Jim Wolf (Lebanon, NJ)- Chef de
Mission
Pam Lane (Gladstone, NJ)- Team
Leader
Stacey Kent (Cochranville, PA)- Team
Veterinarian
2012 Paralympic Equestrian
Schedule at Greenwich Park
August 30, 2012
Grade II Mixed Team Test 9:00 AM -12:15
PM
Grade Ib Mixed Team Test 2:00 PM -5:00
PM
August 31, 2012
Grade IV Mixed Team Test 9:00 AM-11:30
AM
Grade III Mixed Team Test 1:15 PM-3:45
PM
Grade Ia Mixed Team Test 3:45 PM-6:15
PM
September 1, 2012
Grade II Mixed Individual Championship
Test 9:00 AM – 12:15 PM
Medal Ceremony Individual Championship
Grade II 12:30 PM-12:45 PM
Grade Ib Mixed Individual Championship
Test 2:30 PM-5:30 PM
Medal Ceremony Individual Championship
Grade Ib 5:45 PM -6:00 PM
September 2, 2012
Grade IV Mixed Individual Championship
Test 9:00 AM-11:30 AM
Medal Ceremony Individual Championship
Grade IV 11:45 AM-12:00 PM
Grade III Mixed Individual Championship
Test 1:45 PM-4:14 PM
Grade Ia Mixed Individual Championship
Test 4:15 PM-6:45 PM
Medal Ceremony Individual Championship
Grade III 7:00 PM-7:15 PM
Medal Ceremony Individual Championship
Grade Ia 7:15 PM-7:30 PM
September 3, 2012
Grade II Mixed Individual Freestyle Test
9:00 AM-11:30 AM
Medal Ceremony Individual Freestyle
Grade II
Grade Ib Mixed Individual Freestyle Test
2:15 PM-5:00 PM
Medal Ceremony Individual Freestyle
Grade Ib 5:15 PM-5:30 PM
September 4, 2012
Grade IV Mixed Individual Freestyle Test
9:00 AM-11:30 AM
Medal Ceremony Individual Freestyle
Grade IV 11:45 AM-12:00 PM
Grade III Mixed Individual Freestyle
Test 1:45 PM-3:45 PM
Grade Ia Mixed Individual Freestyle Test
3:45 PM-6:00 PM
Medal Ceremony Individual Freestyle
Grade III 6:15 PM-6:30 PM
Medal Ceremony Individual Freestyle
Grade Ia 6:30 PM-6:45 PM
TEAM MEDAL CEREMONY 6:45 PM-7:15 PM
September 9, 2012
Closing Ceremony
Information on Live Streaming
Paralympic Coverage at Paralympic.org and Television Coverage at NBC Sports
Network (information about coverage below was provided by the International
Paralympic Committee and was not written by USPEA)
By creating original video content for
the US Paralympics YouTube channel, YouTube.com/USParalympics, while also
partnering with NBCUniversal and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC),
US Paralympics will provide the American public with more coverage of the US
Paralympic Team than any previous year.
Beginning on 29 August and continuing
through the conclusion of the Games on 9 September, US Paralympics will provide
10 daily video highlights packages via its US Paralympics YouTube
channel.
In addition to the online content, NBC
Sports Network (NBCSN) will air one-hour highlight shows on 4, 5, 6 and 11
September at 7 p.m. EDT. Following the Paralympic Games, on 16 September, NBC
will broadcast a 90-minute special from 2-3:30 p.m. EDT. All NBC and NBC Sports
Network Paralympic highlight shows and specials will re-air on Universal Sports
Network and UniversalSports.com.
During the Games, which start on 29
August, the IPC’s website will have five channels broadcasting live sport each
day. Four channels will have English commentary whilst a fifth channel will be
available in Spanish.
The website will also feature a
revolutionary new SMART player which has been developed by the IPC’s worldwide
IT partner Atos. The player uses innovative technology that will enable those
watching live swimming and wheelchair basketball on www.paralympic.org to view
real-time results tickers, statistics, biographies, news and social media – all
in one integrated and synchronized window. It also simplifies the user’s
interests and gives specific and relevant results per sport, similar to the ones
available to commentators inside the venues.
Direct Link:
http://www.youtube.com/paralympicsporttv
U.S. Paralympics website
(http://www.usparalympics.org),
U.S. Paralympics Facebook
(http://www.facebook.com/usparalympics/)
U.S. Paralympics Twitter
(http://www.twitter.com/usparalympics/).
For more information about the United
States Equestrian Federation please visit www.USEF.org
For more information about the
Para-Equestrians heading to London please visit
http://www.fei.org/events/games/paralympic-games/london-2012
To view more about the London 2012
Paralympics please visit the official Paralympic website at
http://www.london2012.com/
ABOUT THE EQUESTRIAN PARALYMPICS
(courtesy of FEI)
Host nation Great Britain, Germany,
Denmark and Canada have qualified the maximum number of riders and will each be
represented by a team of four and one individual.
Nine countries – USA, The Netherlands,
Brazil, Ireland, Italy, Belgium, South Africa, Australia and France – have
qualified four riders.
The National Paralympic Committees
(NPCs) of Singapore and Mexico, which had originally qualified four riders,
returned one qualification slot each and will be represented by three-rider
teams. The unused slots were re-allocated to Norway and Israel on the basis of
the Individual Para-Equestrian Rankings of athletes not already qualified with a
team. As a result, Norway, which had already qualified two individual riders,
will be fielding a composite team consisting of three members.
New Zealand and Finland will be
represented by two individual riders apiece. Bermuda, Argentina, Japan, Hong
Kong and Austria have each been allocated one individual slot.
Three Bipartite Commission invitations
have been issued to Thomas Haller of Austria, Lee Frawley of the Virgin Islands
and Anita Johnsson of Sweden.
A total of 78 Para-Equestrian riders
will be battling it out for the 11 sets of medals available.
Photos Courtesy of USPEA by Lindsay McCall -
States (top); NTEC Richter Scale (ridden by Jonathan Wentz of the USA) and owner Kai Handt (middle); Lord Ludger (ridden by Rebecca Hart of USA) and Chef d’Equipe Missy Ransehousen (bottom)
