Zara Phillips – Queen Elizabeth II’s grand-daughter – won the individual gold medal in the three-day eventing competition at the recent World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany.
World and European champion
Phillips – who is now the World and European champion – showed a great deal of class to win the competition ahead of Australia’s Clayton Fredericks.
The key to her victory was a faultless round in the cross-country discipline, which moved her from fifth to first on the leader-board.
She then completed the show-jumping course on the final day with only one mistake to seal first place.
Team success
Great Britain also won a medal in the team event, finishing second behind Germany but comfortably ahead of Australia.
Sports Personality of the Year?
After her success, Phillips is now one of the favourites to win this year’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.
In a relatively lean year for British sport, her main rivals for the award are likely to be tennis player, Andy Murray and cricketer, Monty Panesar.
In her parents’ footsteps
Sporting ability has clearly been passed down to Phillips from her parents. Princess Anne was the European eventing champion in 1971, the year she was also named BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
Her father, Mark Phillips, won a team gold medal in eventing at the 1972 Olympic Games and is a four-time winner of the Badminton Horse Trials.
Helping to raise the sport’s profile
Equestrian is still relatively low-profile in the UK, despite the fact that the British team is very successful in international competition.
Phillips, as a high-profile member of the Royal family, may be the woman to raise the sport’s profile in the UK in years to come.
Other Royal sporting prowess
Other members of the Royal family are keen sportsmen. The Duke of Edinburgh is an expert in the almost unheard-of sport of four-in-hand carriage driving, while also enjoying a spot of shooting from time-to-time.
Princes William and Harry are talented at a number of sports, including rugby and polo, while Prince Andrew is a five-handicap golfer who has also captained the world-famous Royal and Ancient Golf club.
However, it is fair to say that all of their sporting achievements pale into insignificance alongside the Royal world champion, who will now be aiming for Olympic glory in 2006.
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