Kristina "Tina" Cook (née Gifford, born 31 August 1970), is a British three-day

eventing Eventing (also known as three-day eventing or horse trials) is an equestrian event where the same horse and rider combination compete against other competitors across the three disciplines of dressage, cross-country, and show jumping. This ...

rider. She is the 2009 European Champion and a three-time Olympic medallist, winning

individual An individual is one that exists as a distinct entity. Individuality (or self-hood) is the state or quality of living as an individual; particularly (in the case of humans) as a person unique from other people and possessing one's own needs or g ...

and

team A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to in ...

bronze medals in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and

silver in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

. She has also won two World team golds (1994, 2010) and four European team golds (1995, 1999, 2009, 2017).

Biography

Cook was born Kristina Gifford in

Rustington Rustington is a village and civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex. Rustington is approximately at the midpoint of the West Sussex coast and midway between Chichester and Brighton. The A259 runs along the north of Rustington, west ...

and is the daughter of the four times

British jump racing Champion Jockey In Great Britain's National Hunt racing, the title of champion jockey is bestowed on the rider who has the most wins during a racing season. From its inception in 1900 to 1925, the award was given to the jockey who had the most winners during a ...

Josh Gifford Josh Gifford (3 August 1941 – 9 February 2012) was a jockey and trainer in National Hunt racing. He was a four-time Champion Jockey, riding 642 winners in his career. He retired from training in 2002, aged 60, and his son Nick Gifford too ...

. Riding Miners Frolic, she won bronze medals in both the

and team eventing at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

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 ...

. Cook only made the Olympic Eventing team, after the withdrawals of

Zara Phillips Zara Anne Elizabeth Tindall (; born 15 May 1981) is a British equestrian, Olympian, socialite and member of the British royal family. She is the daughter of Anne, Princess Royal, and Captain Mark Phillips, and the eldest niece of King Charles ...

and Lucy Wiegersma. She became double European Eventing champion in 2009 on Miners Frolic in both the Individual and Team competitions at the championships at

Fontainebleau Fontainebleau ( , , ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Functional area (France), metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the Kilometre zero#France, centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a Subprefectures in Franc ...

in France. Her achievements prior to the 2008 Olympics included winning individual silver medal at the European championships on Song and Dance Man in 1993, gold medals at the 1994 World Equestrian Games in The Hague and the 1995 and 1999 European Championships. Cook won silver in the team eventing at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in London. She was then picked for the team in the 2014 World Equestrian Games with her homebred horse De Novo News. This was the horse's first championship in which they helped to win team silver. Cook is also patron for the Worthing-based charity, Guild Care.

CCI 5* Results

International Championship results

Notable Horses

* Captain Christy – 1992 Bay Irish Sport Horse Gelding (Cavalier Royale x Imperious) ** 2002 World Equestrian Games – Individual 22nd Place ** 2003 European Championships – Individual 37th Place * Miners Frolic – 1998 Dark Bay Gelding (Miners Lamp) ** 2008 Beijing Olympics – Team Bronze Medal, Individual Bronze Medal ** 2009 European Championships – Team Gold Medal, Individual Gold Medal ** 2010 World Equestrian Games – Team Gold Medal, Individual 29th Place ** 2012 London Olympics – Team Silver Medal, Individual Sixth Place ** 2013 European Championships – Team Sixth Place, Individual 13th Place * De Novo News – 2003 Bay Thoroughbred Stallion (Last News) ** 2014 World Equestrian Games – Team Silver Medal, Individual 15th Place * Billy The Red – 2007 Chestnut Baden-Wurttemberger Gelding (Lilith x Stan the Man XX) ** 2017 European Championships – Team Gold Medal, Individual Fourth Place

References

https://web.archive.org/web/20130508081528/http://www.guildcare.org/About-Guild-Care {{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Kristina British event riders Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Equestrians at the 2008 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic equestrians for Great Britain British female equestrians 1970 births Living people Olympic medalists in equestrian Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics People educated at Windlesham House School People from Rustington People from Findon, West Sussex