Grace Bowman (born 16 July 1990) is an Australian equestrian. She was selected to represent

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

at the

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international Multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Sum ...

in the

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or riding in British English) Examples of this are: *Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...

event. She did not medal at the 2012 Games.

Personal

Bowman was born on 16 July 1990 in Moonta, South Australia. She attended high school in Kadina. As a child, she participated in several sports including

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

and basketball. On 13 September 2002, at the age of twelve, she had an accident with a horse that resulted in her spinal cord becoming severed and dislocated. Her mother died following an accident, and her father died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

in 2011. she is a student at the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

, where she is majoring in psychology. Bowman was featured on

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's ''Race to London''.

Equestrian

Bowman is a Grade 1B equestrian competitor. , she practices at Kirby Stud Park, is coached by Megan Jones, an Australian Olympic equestrian, and rides a horse named Rolly. She was one of the first South Australians to ever represent Australia at the Paralympic Games. She started riding horses in 1996 when she was six years old, and owned her first horse when she was ten years old. At the age of 12, she had an accident while riding a horse that left her disabled. Bowman first represented Australia in 2006. She was selected to represent Australia at the

2008 Summer Paralympics The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China, from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was ...

, and ultimately finished twelfth in her event with a score of 61.611. She finished sixth in the team event. Going into the 2008 Games, she was given A$4,000 to help with her costs. She was a member of Australia's 2009 National High Performance Squad. 010912 - Grace Bowman - 3b - 2012 Summer Paralympics

010912 - Grace Bowman - 3b - 2012 Summer Paralympics

In 2010 and 2011, Bowman rode Kirby Park Irish Joy. At the

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

hosted 2010 World Equestrian Games, she finished fourth. She finished first in the 2011 Tamworth NSW Grade II FEI Team Test event, the Championship Test event and the Freestyle event, finished first in the 2011 Grade II National Championships, and finished first in the 2011 Hong Kong Grade II CPEDI3 Freestyle competition. She was selected to represent

at the

in equestrian. She did not medal at the 2012 Games.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowman, Grace Paralympic equestrians for Australia Living people 1990 births Equestrians at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Australian female equestrians People from Moonta, South Australia 21st-century Australian sportswomen Sportswomen from South Australia