31 May 2012
Olympic gold medalist and eventing stalwart Stuart Tinney announced last night that his top horse Panamera was sidelined and out of contention for the Australian Eventing Team that will compete at the London 2012 Olympic Games. In a statement issued by Stuart and his wife Karen last night: ?It is with huge sadness that Panamera, our elite-listed mare, will be no longer be available for team selection for the London Olympics. Panamera sustained a mild injury to her suspensory ligament whilst competing at Equestriade CIC***. With a short rest, she will make a full recovery. ?Stuart, Karen, part-owner Tim Game and all the team here at Tinney Eventing are absolutely devastated. Being so close to the Games, it could not have come at a worse time. ?We will now concentrate on Panamera’s full recovery and Melbourne International 3DE where Stuart will compete Pluto Mio and Orchard Hill.? Stuart and Panamera were the winners of the Australian International 4* event in Adelaide last November. The Sydney 2000 Olympic Games saw Stuart catapult ahead in his career after winning the team gold medal in Eventing. Equestrian Australia?s National Performance Director for Eventing, Prue Barrett, said the loss of this elite combination would be disappointing for the shadow team. ?Stuart and Panamera have recorded some great results over the last few years and I know the significant work Stuart has put in to preparing Panamera for the London Olympics. This is a difficult time for Stuart and his team and it is certainly a disappointing for our shadow squad to lose such as strong combination,? Barrett said in a statement. Stuart will now head to the Melbourne International Three-Day Event in two weeks? time with his A-squad horses. The Melbourne 3DE is the last Australian event for the eventers to impress the selectors. ?We have a lot of depth in our eventing team both in Australia and abroad. As always, selection for the London 2012 Australian Eventing team will be tough and I’m confident we’ll have a team that will carry on the proud tradition of the teams before us and produce some great results,? said Barrett. Australia’s eventing team for the London Olympics Games will be announced at the end of June. Thanks to Equestrian Australia for assistance with this article.
To learn more:
Stuart Tinney is the author of the excellent book, Making the Time, a must-read for aspiring eventers. His eventing exploits are prominently featured in the book An Eventful Life. ????????? Fran Jurga is a freelance writer and editor from Gloucester, Massachusetts. Her blogs include The Jurga Report for EQUUS Magazine and War Horse News on the 2011 Steven Spielberg film. Fran is the founder of Hoofcare and Lameness Journal and writes a specialist Hoof Blog. In 2008, Fran wrote the WorldRides blog for the Hong Kong equestrian events of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the Discover WEG blog for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in 2010. You can follow Fran on Facebook and Twitter for more news about the horse world.
