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Last week, British Eventing announced its eventing team for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG) in Kentucky in October 2010.
It will be some time, however, before the Australian team will be announced – in keeping with the Australian eventing team selection process, which causes so much anxiety but seems to produce the results.
Veteran Australian team coach, and one of the most influential names in eventing world-wide, Wayne Roycroft has a difficult job.
In a few weeks time, he needs to pick a team of horses and riders capable of bringing home Australia’s first gold medal from a World Equestrian Games.
Unlike the Brits, Australia has a history of leaving team selection to the very last minute.
Currently there are three Australian based rider combinations on the Elite squad who are very likely to be selected to travel to Kentucky – Stuart Tinney (Olympic Gold medallist – Sydney 2000), Megan Jones (Olympic Silver Medallist – Beijing 2008, Bronze Medallist WEG 2006) and Sonja Johnson (Olympic Silver Medallist – Beijing 2008, Bronze Medallist WEG 2006).
They are proven performers with experience, but they also all have the hunger for another medal.
The less experienced (at international level) but very talented Australian based rider, Christopher Burton, will also be looking to put in a great performance at the last selection event to make a bid for his first WEG team selection.
This group of riders could provide a team without even looking at the excellent overseas-based riders currently in contention for selection such as Clayton and Lucinda Fredericks, Paul Tapner, Sam Griffiths and Bill Levett.
The last selection event for the Australian based riders is the Sydney International Three Day Event to be held at the Sydney International Equestrian Centre from August 26th -29th.
This venue was created for the Sydney 2000 Olympics and the event will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of the gold-medal winning Australian team. It is testament to the longevity of eventing riders that one of the team members in 2000, Stuart Tinney is still at the top of his sport and aiming for the WEG in Kentucky.
He is in the enviable position of having two extremely talented horses – the handsome grey warmblood, Vettori and the scopey bay mare Panamera, who has recently impressed the selectors.
Tinney is a veteran of Australian team campaigns and, despite the fact that he dislikes travelling away from his home base in Australia (a major reason for not having left these shores for more money and better competition in Europe) he is readying to be Kentucky bound.
Tinney and Jones were part of the Australian delegation which attended the WEG test event in Kentucky earlier this year as spectators to check out the terrain and facilities.
“I like to know about the facilities for the horses so that I can brief Amy, my head girl, which helps her prepare for the event. Once you’re selected for a team there is an awful lot to think about in terms of your horse’s welfare and your own performance, not to mention the team requirements, so this gives us the chance to soak up a lot of information about the event environment and logistics before the pressure is on,” said Tinney.
But first, he needs to put in one final strong performance at the Sydney event in August.
Stuart Tinney riding Panamera at the Melbourne Three Day Event 2010
Stuart Tinney riding Vettori
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