FEI AWARDS WINNERS ANNOUNCED
Copenhagen (DEN), 19 November 2009
At a glittering ceremony in Copenhagen on 19 November, five heroes of the equestrian world became the first recipients of the new FEI Awards.
Best Rider
Show jumper Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum of Germany received the Best Rider accolade.
"It's a great honour for me to win this award, particularly as it's the first time it's been awarded. It's an accomplishment every rider would consider very important, and it's so nice to have my achievements recognised." said the 39-year-old German rider, who has won the last two Rolex FEI World CupTM finals on her superlative horse Shutterfly. Meredith was not present in Copenhagen.
Best Groom
Michelle Robson, a 25-year-old Australian, won the Best Groom award. Michelle has worked for Olympic event rider Shane Rose for six years, caring for his competition horses and also working with young racehorses.
Against All Odds Award
Darlene Milord from Haiti is the very worthy recipient of the Against All Odds prize. A severely handicapped orphan, Darlene's love for horses and determination to succeed has led her to perform in Special Olympics events.
HSBC Rising Star
Known as "one in 1.3 billion" in the Chinese media in the lead-up to last year's Olympic Games, 19-year-old Alex Hua Tin is China's first ever international event rider - and the winner of the HSBC Rising Star award.
Alltech Development Award
Wendy Gidlow, who owns and manages Heritage Equestrian in South Africa's Transvaal, receives the Alltech Development Award for her work with children from extremely underprivileged backgrounds, giving them opportunities to become involved with horses.
There were over 1200 nominations for the five awards - which have been designed to reward the fair play, team spirit, inspiration and prowess that equine competition espouses, as well as celebrating the outstanding achievements of our often-underrated athletes - from all over the globe.
The judging panel, headed by FEI President HRH Princess Haya, who herself show jumped at Olympic level, had a very hard job in deciding who should receive these inaugural awards - all of the short-listed nominees would have been worthy recipients. The judges also included eventing and show jumping Olympian and multiple medallist Mark Todd, Dominican Republic dressage rider and judge Diana Ramos, Italian show jumping organiser Eleonora Ottaviani and German vaulting champion Kai Vorberg, along with representatives from key FEI sponsors Alltech and HSBC.
The ceremony was hosted by the BBC's Clare Balding, herself a former amateur jockey and event rider in Great Britain.
The recipients of the first ever FEI Awards. From Left to right: Michelle Robson (AUS); Darlene Milord (HAI); Alex Hua Tin (CHN); Wendy Gidlow (RSA). (C) Klaus Sletting Jensen.
