Canadian show jumping team named for Paris 2024 Olympics
Canada won a team jumping silver medal at Santiago 2023.
Equestrian Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee announced the roster of equestrian jumping athletes nominated to compete at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on Wednesday, selecting three athletes and their horses.
To be eligible for Paris 2024, the selected athlete-horse duos must have achieved the Minimum Eligibility Requirements (MER) at selected events during the qualification period, which ran from January 1, 2023 to June 24, 2024.
The most experienced member of the team is Mario Deslauriers, who will be going to his fourth Olympic Games. The 59-year-old made his Olympic debut at Los Angeles 1984, where he finished fourth in both the individual and the team jumping events. He competed in Seoul four years later, but didn’t return to the Olympics again until Tokyo 2020.
Deslauriers, who set (and still holds) the record for the youngest rider to ever win the World Cup Final when he did so at age 19 in 1984, continues to compete at the highest level, and was part of the group that earned a team jumping silver medal at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games. Deslauriers was competing with horse Emerson, who he owns and will be taking to Paris as well.
Also on the silver-medal-winning team at Santiago 2023 was Amy Millar, who is going to her second Olympics after previously competing at Rio 2016 — where she was part of the team that finished fourth.
She has been competing internationally for Canada since 1999, playing a key role in Canada’s victories in Nations Cup events. Millar typically rides the anchor position in the team event, just as her father Ian Millar did for many years for Canada. In Paris she will again ride Truman, who was her partner at Santiago 2023.
The elder Millar went to ten Olympics between Munich 1972 and London 2012, which is the record for the most Olympic appearances of any athlete in the world. He will be joining the team in Paris as Chef D’Équipe for the jumping team, his first Olympics in this role. He won a team silver medal at Beijing 2008, losing to the United States in a jump-off for the Olympic title alongside teammates Jill Henselwood, Eric Lamaze, and Mac Cone.
“After an excellent result with the team silver medal at the Pan American Games, we are looking forward to the next step for the jumping team in Paris,” said James Hood, Director of High Performance at Equestrian Canada, in a press release. “With Chef D’Équipe Ian Millar and an incredible support team on the ground, we are hoping the team will have the best opportunity to perform.
“As part of the team around the team, the owners and supporters will also be in place at Games and at home to cheer on Team Canada! We are very appreciative of all the help we have received from coaches, owners, grooms/staff and families that make this possible.”
Erynn Ballard, currently the second highest-ranked female show jumper in the world, will make her Olympic debut in Paris, riding the horse Nikka vd Bisschop. In May, Ballard won her first-ever 5* Grand Prix title, and recorded 11 podium finishes in 4* and 5* Fédération Equestre International (FEI) competitions. Nikka vd Bisschop won a team silver medal at the Pan Am Games last year, competing with Beth Underhill.
“Every young athlete dreams of going to the Olympics, so this is really a dream come true,” said Ballard in a press release. “This is more than just a dream for me. This year belongs to everyone that has supported me and believed in me my whole career. I was able to qualify four horses with four different owners, but only one horse can go.
“This belongs to everyone. I have an exceptional team behind me and I couldn’t do it without them. To all the horses and all the people that have made this a reality, thank you.”
Tiffany Foster and her horse Battlecry will be travelling to Paris as the alternate athlete-horse duo, in case anything happens to any of the three jumpers on the team.
Canada has won seven Olympic medals across the three equestrian disciplines, with five of them coming in jumping. Equestrian events will take place from July 27 to August 6 at the Château de Versailles. Eventing will go from July 27-29, dressage follows from July 30 to August 4, and jumping goes from August 1-6.
Team Canada’s dressage and eventing teams will be announced at a later date.
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