On the evening of Wednesday 22 January, athletes, owners, grooms and support staff attended a reception at Clarence House, hosted by British Equestrian Patron, Her Majesty The Queen, to celebrate their achievements at the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games last summer.
Her Majesty met first with eventing team gold medallist Rosalind Canter, the multi-medal-winning para dressage squad of Natasha Baker OBE, Mari Durward-Akhurst, Sophie Wells OBE and Georgia Wilson, and travelling reserve athletes Yasmin Ingham and Andrew Gould. They were joined by Performance Director Helen Nicholls and the Performance Managers from dressage and para dressage.
Escorted by Helen Nicholls and Chief Executive Jim Eyre, Her Majesty also took time to talk with a number of horse owners and grooms, acknowledging the vital roles they played in the teams’ successes on the field of play at Chateau de Versailles. Many of the practitioners and support staff from British Equestrian’s World Class Programme were also in attendance and had the opportunity to reminisce with Her Majesty about the build-up to the Games and their time in Paris.
In a speech to draw the evening to a close, Jim Eyre expressed his gratitude to Her Majesty for her kind hospitality, her enduring support for the equestrian community and for her continued Patronage of British Equestrian, which was confirmed to be retained in May 2024 and is much valued by the Federation.
He also took the opportunity to thank the athletes for their hard work and determination during their performances at the Games. He went on to pay tribute to the owners, who are the backbone of our sport, and the grooms who dedicate their lives to the wellbeing of their equine charges. He ended by recognising the ‘team behind the team’ – the support staff, the Performance Managers and the practitioners, who all work tirelessly to ensure the athletes and horses can perform to their best on the world stage.
Her Majesty then addressed the gathering: “I would like to reiterate exactly what Jim said. I’m so proud to be your patron and what you achieved in Paris made us all feel very proud to be British. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there, but I was watching every bit of it on television and it really did bring tears to the eyes. Thank you to the whole team for everything you do.”
Jim Eyre then presented Her Majesty with a commemorative book of photographs, which captured key moments and the team spirit from both Games for her collection.
