|
Nina Lamsam Ligon is a Thai Olympic equestrian.〔(London2012.com )〕 At the 2012 Summer Olympics she competed in the Individual eventing.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title= Results for Miss Nina Ligon )〕 She is the first woman from an Asian nation to compete in Olympic Eventing. == Biography == Nina is a dual US and Thai citizen, who has competed for both flags as a junior. When she turned 18, she elected to represent Thailand. In 2007, at the age of 15, Nina and her horse (Pacific Storm ) competed on the ((NAJYRC)US Junior Olympics team ). They had a dramatic & heartbreaking near miss at “gold”, when Nina had a stop and fall at the very last fence. Later that year the pair went on to win the Individual and Team Gold medals for Thailand at the Southeast Asian Games in Thailand. Nina became both the youngest rider and the first woman to win an individual equestrian gold medal for Thailand. She was named 2007 Thai Rider of the Year. At the 2010 Asian Games in China, Nina and Chai Thai led the Thai team to Team Silver. They led after dressage and cross-country but one rail down each in the team and the individual show jumping rounds dropped them to 4th place individually. Nina and her teammate Terri Impson were the first women ever to win Eventing Medals at the ''ASIAN GAMES''.〔'ASIAN GAMES''〕 Nina’s medals from both the SEA and ASIAN GAMES earned her the right with the Thai Olympic Council to pursue 2012 Olympic qualification. Nina has received two royal medals from the King of Thailand for outstanding service to the country. In 2010 Nina was named the Best (Young Rider (Under 21) in the USA ). To our complete amazement, Nina won the Best Young Rider for a second consecutive year, sweeping all Advanced, Intermediate and Preliminary Leaderboards in 2011. She was also ranked the #2 Lady Rider and #7 Overall Rider in the USA. She then capped the year by winning the prestigious ''FEI (HSBC Rising Star award )'',〔(FEI HSBC Rising Star award )〕 “given to one under 21 years old rider worldwide and across all riding disciplines, for outstanding talent and commitment.” She was # 38 on the FEI World ranking list on March 1, 2012, when Olympic individual slots were announced. Nina started riding at the age of five, trained intensively and competed on weekends through high school. She is a graduate “B” Ponyclubber. Her trainer was ''Kim Severson'',〔Kim Severson〕 a US Olympic silver medalist and three times winner of the Rolex Kentucky Four Star. Nina did dressage training with ''(Gerd Zuther )''.〔(Gerd Zuther )〕 She has done jumping clinics with Katie Prudent and Bruce Davidson. Nina graduated cum laude from Collegiate high school in 2010 and received early acceptance to Stanford University with permission to defer for 2 years to pursue 2012 Olympic Qualification. In February 2011, Nina successfully moved up to the three star level. She and (Fernhill Fearless ) placed third at their first National 3 Star Competition, going double clean in both cross country and show jumping, and finishing on their dressage score. Then on a very wet weekend at Fairhill in April, they won at their first CIC * * *〔Concours Complet International#CCI.2A.2A.2A〕 (short format) and were second at their first CCI * * * (long format) @ Jersey Fresh. Hence the pair met the (Minimum Eligibility Requirement ) to compete at the London Olympics 2012. In order to earn an individual slot for the Olympics, Nina needed to earn more points & stay within the TOP 13 riders on the (FEI Olympic Athletes ranking ) (not including riders from nations like USA, Great Britain, Germany that will compete as a team). So continued a grueling point chasing journey for Nina and her horses across USA and Europe. Nina’s quest to turn a far fetched childhood Olympic dream into reality exceeded all expectations. She was invited to compete at the (LONDON TEST EVENT ) in June 2011. Since she had to travel to the UK, Nina took the opportunity to compete for points in Europe. Her win on (Jazz King ) at (Pardubice ) in the Czech Republic and 2nd place on Tipperary Liadhnan at (Poplar Place ), USA, boosted her ranking. But the unrelenting race to earn the precious few slots for the London Olympics continued till the bitter end on March 1, 2012. Instead of letting her horses down as she would normally do over the winter, Nina forged on point chasing. Her decisive win on (Butts Leon ) at Poplar Place in February 2012 solidified her position on the Olympic Athletes ranking and she sat back to wait for the official announcement. On March 1, 2010, the FEI announced that Thailand has earned its spot to compete at the Olympics in Individual Eventing. For the 2008 (Hongkong Olympics ), 100 points earned a slot; for the London Olympics, at least 200 points were needed. Nina earn 228 points and was (#36 in World ranking ) at the time. 2011 was an amazing year of growth & success for Nina. Thanks to her 4 (upper level horses ), her coaches and dedicated (support team ), Nina quickly became a confirmed and competitive international three star rider. She qualified 4 horses for the Olympics! After a month and half of much deserved rest for the horses, she moved them to the UK to prepare for the Games. The unprecedented wet weather in the UK caused havoc to Nina’s Olympic preparation schedule, but she managed to compete at a few big international shows including Houghton Hall, Bramham and Barbury Castle. Based on performance and soundness, Nina declared (Butts Leon ) as her Olympic horse, and Jazz King as the spare. Nina and Butts Leon put in a polished performance to finish (41st out of 74 competitors ). The youngest eventer at London 2012 & the first female eventer from Asia to compete at the OLYMPICS. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Nina Ligon」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|