Poland Nominations for Olympic Team
13 years ago StraightArrow Comments Off on Poland Nominations for Olympic Team
The three riders and horses for Poland’s first Olympic team since the height of the Cold War in 1980 were nominated Wednesday.
The Polish combinations of Michal Rapcewicz and Randon, Beata Stremler and Martini and Katarzyna Milczarek and Ekwador qualified as individuals and the three pairs are able to field a “composite” team for the dressage competition starting in London’d Greenwich Park on Aug. 2.
Poland joins host Great Britain, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United States in the Nations Cup.
The combinations nominated are:
–Katarzyna Milczarek, 47, and Ekwador, ranked 24th in the world. Ekwador is a 12-year-old SP gray stallion (Heraldik XX x Enigma x Corofino). The pair have competed at Grand Prix since 2008 and among their championshps have been the World Equestrian Games in 2010, World Cup Finals in 2010, 2011 and 2012 and the Europeans in 2009 and 2011;
– Beata Stremler, aged 27, and Martini, ranked 39th. Martini is an 11-year-old WLKP gelding (Deryl SP x Mazda SP x Madryt). The pair competed at the 2011 European Championships and other major shows, and
–Michal Rapcewicz, 30, and Randon, ranked 51st. Michal and the 15-year-old SP gelding (Czuwaj SP x Rafa SP x Fanimo) have been the pathfinder combination for Polish dressage beginning with the World Equestrian Games in 2006 and then again in 2010, the Olympics in 2008, World Cup Finals in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012, as well as European Championships in 2009 and 2011 and Grand Prix throughout Europe and in the United States.
Poland was one of four teams at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow which were boycotted by most Western nations to protest the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan.
