May 25, 2012
World Horse Welfare trustee and legendary Olympic eventing gold medalist Jane Holderness-Roddam was one of 8,000 inspirational people chosen to carry the Olympic Flame on its tour of Great Britain. Yesterday, Jane took the flame through Shurdington in Gloucestershire. She explained her reaction to finding out the news: ?I was completely shocked but delighted when I was nominated by Sport England…It is a real honor to be chosen, as the people taking part have such inspirational stories to tell and have made an enormous difference to the communities in which they live.? Jane, who owns a stud and stables in North Wiltshire, England, was the first woman to represent Britain in eventing at an Olympic Games and won an Olympic Three Day Event team gold in Mexico in 1968; she also won Badminton Horse Trials in 1968 and 1978 and Burghley Horse Trials in 1976. In addition to her role with World Horse Welfare, she is currently Council Chairman of the British Equestrian Federation, and President of The Fortune Centre of Riding Therapy, BETA (British Equestrian Trade Association) and British Eventing. Jane is a British Eventing (BE) Steward and Accredited Trainer, FEI Technical Delegate and Judge, and author of over 20 equestrian books. Jane has previously been recognized for her services to equestrian sport with a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) in 2006 and the Queen’s Award for Equestrianism in 2009. The Olympic flame arrived in the UK last Friday and is now being carried by the 8,000 selected torchbearers over the coming weeks before arriving at the Olympic Stadium during the opening ceremony. The torchbearer scheme aims to recognize and reward people with a story of personal achievement or those who have contributed to their community. Former Eventing World Champion Zara Phillips of Great Britain was also a torchbearer yesterday (see separate story). ????????? 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. You can follow Fran on Facebook and Twitter for more news about the horse world. 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.
