Great Cheverell: A Cluster of Big Pins on the Olympic World Map

One little town in Wiltshire, England can claim that almost one percent of its residents are Olympic athletes!

What might really throw you, though, is that they are there representing three different countries!

Great Cheverell, population 588, may have more horses than people. It is the home of Lucinda and Clayton Fredericks, who won the silver team medal in eventing...for Australia. Their training center, called Rosegarth, is home to 30 horses that they or their students are training.

One of the Fredericks' students is Alex Hua Tian, the first eventing competitor ever from China; he is a student at Eton College.

Great Cheverell is also the home of British dressage team rider Jane Gregory who rode yesterday in the team dressage.

© 2008 by Fran Jurga, WorldRides and Equisearch.com. All rights reserved.
http://special.equisearch.com/blog/worldrides

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Meet the Riders: Alex Hua Tian Rides for China

As his website says, he is "1 in 1.3 billion": China's only three-day event rider. Alex Hua Tian speaks English with a Chinese accent...or is it the other way around? The Eton College student rode the German-bred Chicco to a personal-best dressage score in Hong Kong  on Saturday. He is the youngest competitor in the equestrian events, and is the first Chinese national to ever compete in eventing at any Olympics. Alex trains with Lucinda and Clayton Fredericks  of the Australian team at their farm in England. Together, they have the world map covered! Unfortunately, it looks like Alex has been eliminated on cross-country today. We're still waiting for details.(Kit Houghton photo, courtesy of FEI)