Jane Gregory (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Jane Bredin 30 June 1959 – 1 April 2011), was an international

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 ...

. She first rode for her country in 1994, competing in the

World Equestrian Games The FEI World Equestrian Games are the major international championships for equestrianism, and are administered by the Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI). The games have been held every four years, halfway between sets of consecutive S ...

of that year, and competed for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

Dressage Dressage ( or ; , most commonly translated as "training") is a form of horse riding performed in exhibition and competition, as well as an art sometimes pursued solely for the sake of mastery. As an equestrianism, equestrian sport defined by th ...

at the

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

and

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

Early life

Born in

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 88,000 as of 2023. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, charte ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, Gregory came from a non-equestrian family. At the age of seven she started to learn to

ride Ride may refer to: People * MC Ride, a member of Death Grips * Sally Ride (1951–2012), American astronaut * William Ride (19262011), Australian zoologist Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Ride'' (1998 film), a comedy film by Millicen ...

, going weekly to a riding centre near her home in

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

. Her first horse was a

Connemara pony The Connemara pony ( Irish: ''Capaillín Chonamara'') is a pony breed originating in Ireland. They are known for their athleticism, versatility and good disposition. History The Connemara region in County Galway in western Ireland, where th ...

called Timolin, and was bought for her by her godmother for £175. She joined the North Cornwall Pony Club, winning the junior section of club's championships in 1976.

International career

Her international career started in 1994. In that year she competed in the World Equestrian Games. She rode at the Atlanta Olympics 1996 with her horse Cupido. For several years after this she did not compete internationally due to horse injuries, but by 2001 she was first in the small tour rankings. She made a full comeback in 2006, when she won grand prix and grand prix special with the horse Lucky Star at Munich CDI in May, then she won the grand prix freestyle at the Mariakalnok CDI. Her last coach was

Ulla Salzgeber Ulla Salzgeber (born 5 August 1958 in Oberhausen) is a German equestrianism, equestrian and Olympic champion who competes in the sport of dressage. Competing in the 2000 Summer Olympics, 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics, she won two team gold medal ...

. She competed in Dressage for

Team GB Team GB is the brand name used since 1999 by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for their British Olympic team. The brand was developed after the nation's poor performance in the 1996 Summer Olympics, and is now a trademark of the BOA. ...

at the Beijing Olympics, stating "I am in a state of shock" upon finding out that she was selected. She was a member of the GB dressage team along with

Laura Bechtolsheimer Laura Tomlinson MBE (''née'' Bechtolsheimer; born 31 January 1985, in Mainz, Germany) is a German-British dressage rider competing at Olympic level. As of 30 June 2012 the Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI) ranked her ...

and Emma Hindle.

Personal life

Based from Great Cheverell,

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

, in 2006 Jane married her partner of twenty years,

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

dressage rider Aram Gregory. Gregory died on 1 April 2011 after suffering a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

at the age of 51.

Results

References

External links

Team GB Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gregory, Jane People from Bromley Sportspeople from the London Borough of Bromley British dressage riders Olympic equestrians for Great Britain British female equestrians Equestrians at the 1996 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 2008 Summer Olympics 1959 births 2011 deaths