Meet the Riders: Mary King of Team GBR Eventing in Top Ten Going into Cross-Country

Mary King is an anchor of experience and talent for the British eventing team.

Great Britain's Mary King began riding in her fifth Olympic Games eventing competition when she entered that dressage arena today. That's as many as Andrew Nicholson and Mark Todd. It's one more than Karen O'Connor. Mary is without a doubt one of the world's leading event riders and also one of the most consistent. If you need any more proof, look at the leaderboard after two days of dressage: Mary is in ninth place overall, she was one of the very last riders to go, and she's the only Brit in the Top Ten.

This woman doesn't like to stay home. She made the team and helped Britain win the European eventing championship in 1995...by not letting on that she was five months pregnant!!

I'd like to ask you to go to the web site of the web site of the British newspaper, The Independent, and read a terrific interview with Mary King by the journalist Brian Viner. 

It's not often you see such a piece in a newspaper about an equestrian--or any sports figure, really. This is more like a magazine feature and it is very well written. Mary comes through with flying colors, much as she will probably do tomorrow when she goes cross-country with Call Again Cavalier.

CLICK HERE to read this four-star article about one of the sport's great heroes. Cheer for Mary King!

Video: The Adidas Olympic Commercial

The Olympics are as great or even greater for its commercials than the Super Bowl. Over the next few days I will be sharing with you some of the best Olympics commercials of the 2008 Games, as I get them in an uploadable version.

Here's the official commercial for Adidas.

So what do you think? Which one will be your favorite? Are you holding out to see if the Budweiser Clydesdales have an Olympic commercial? (I hope they do, too.) Use the comment button at the bottom of this post window to leave your opinions! Thanks!

WorldRides Video: Equine Airlift Unloads Precious Horses in Hong Kong

This narrationless video was spliced together by the Hong Kong Jockey Club so you can all see how the horses are off-loaded from the cargo "stall" containers and immediately transferred to waiting air-conditioned horse vans.

The footage was shot on one of the first flights and shows the Dutch dressage team horses arriving. (You know that, from reading this blog, because you can see the orange t-shirts!)

The process is still going on! The man in the blue shirt and khaki pants is Martin Atock, the transport mastermind for airlift managers Peden Bloodstock. I wonder if Martin has been kicked yet...

Here Come the Kiwis!

New Zealand is a force to be reckoned with any international equestrian sporting event. The Kiwis ride with gusto...and can be counted on to enjoy the after-hours and still be on their toes the next morning. Their horses are sure-footed and robust. And they have the world's most winningest eventing hero back on their squad: Mr Mark Todd.

So when the New Zealand van rolled into the stable zone to deliver eventing horses shipped from England, it did turn a few heads.

The New Zealand Equestrian Sports agency reports: "The trip for the horses from the tarmac at the airport to the stables took a total of 90 minutes and was a very efficent process. Once on the air conditioned trucks belonging to the HK Jockey Club, the convory of trucks was police escorted to the stables in Sha Tin. Up to 10 police on motor bikes lead the way, with further police vehicles folllowing behind to ensure no other traffic over took the horse trucks."

Eventing Team Vet Mike Shepherd, who travelled with the horses, was very happy with the flight and the condition of the horses when they arrived. After some routine vet checks, all five horses were given a clean bill of health.

New Zealand had sent ten horses into quarantine at Manton Estate in Marlborough, England under the supervision of team manager (and Olympic veteran) Blyth Tait.

New Zealand's show jumpers are now in quarantine in Aachen, Germany with team manager Greg Best and will ship to Hong Kong at a later date, since the show jumping is the last of the three disciplines.

Here come the Kiwis! The air-conditioned horse van approaches the stable area en route from the airport.

Lordkillinghurst is lead off the truck by team vet Mike Shepherd

Caroline Powell's Lenamore is lead off the Truck by Groom Gill Ford, with a friendly escort by Peden Bloodstock's (and international Olympic equine airlift mastermind) Martin Atock.

The French Approach to the Olympics

Most of the promotional videos for the Olympic equestrian teams look like they were produced by ESPN: Fast-cut edits, pounding rock music, lots of rippling muscles, and don't forget periodic dirt being thrown in the camera lens. Tough. Ready. Edgey.

Ah, but then there's the French Olympic Committee's whimsical la-la-la of an animation short that looks like our friends at Apple computers lent a hand. Totally charming.

France, of course, is favored by many to take home the Individual Gold in Eventing, thanks to superstar Nicholas Touzaint and his high-flying Hidalgo de l'Ile. They won Badminton this year; it was the first time that anyone from France has won there, and also the first European to win since 1951!

There's nothing whimsical about him or his horse but his native country....vive la difference! Enjoy this video!

Touzaint and Hildalgo after their win at Badminton Horse Trials in May. (Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials/Kit Houghton photo)

The Horses Have Landed!

Well, some of them, at least.

The extremely efficient plan was to offload the horses from the jumbo jets and sprint them off to their stables faster than the human passengers could collect their bags and get through customs. The horses would travel in air-conditioned vans with police escorts and support vans. And it all went according to plan, at least with the first group that arrived on Saturday!

These images are provided without captions by the Equestrian Games office and the Hong Kong Jockey Club. I know the bay with the snip on his nose, led by the red-headed groom, is Salinero, and the bay behind him is Hunter Douglas Sunrise but I am not sure of the others. (It's nice that the Dutch usually wear orange so you can always pick them out of the crowd.) 

The fellow in khakis and a blue shirt helping the grey out of the van is the transport mastermind for Peden Bloodstock and the FEI, Martin Atock.

It's interesting to note the transport legwear worn by each horse. And no coolers! The temperature in Hong Kong is....hot. It's a pretty big switch from Canada or Ireland or Sweden.

G2K (Get to Know): Canada's Kyle Carter, Eventing

Get to know Canada's Kyle Carter in this video clip from www.ocala.com

Kyle Carter lives outside Ocala, Florida, on his prophetically-named "Five Rings" horse farm and training center. You may remember him flying around the cross-country course at Rolex or heard about his fifth-place finish at the Pan Am Games in Brazil last year.

But when it comes time to compete, Kyle Carter wears the maple leaf, not the stars and stripes, on his saddle pad. 

And now it's time for Hong Kong. For the first time, the 39-year-old Alberta native will be representing his home country at the Olympics. Riding the known-to-be-mischievous 10-year-old American ex-racehorse Madison Park, Carter has been preparing by schooling under the watchful gaze of Olympic gold medalist David O'Connor.

Kyle Carter and Madison Park flew to Hong Kong on July 25th. Kyle told Ocala.com that he has opted to skip the experience of being with athletes from all sports as part of Team Canada in the open ceremonies in Beijing on August 8 because it would require a plane trip and time away from his horse. He competes the next day.

Take a Look: The 2008 Olympic Medals

Take a look at the front (top) and back (lower) silver, gold and bronze medals for the 2008 Olympics. Each medal is also made with some jade inlay as the inspiration for the design is the ancient Chinese "bi" coin, made of jade.

Yes, take a look: this might be as close as most of us will ever get to one!