Blow for HK as Phillips pulls out
Zara Phillips has withdrawn from Olympic competition after her horse sustained an injury in training. The absence of Queen Elizabeth's granddaughter means that Hong Kong will be denied the opportunity of seeing the world's most recognisable equestrian athlete.
'I am very disappointed not to have the opportunity to ride at the Olympic Games and feel that Toytown deserved his chance to go,' Phillips, 27, said. 'However, with horses these things happen and we still have a very strong team, I wish them every success.'
'The British team are saddened by the news, especially for Zara and her team,' equestrian team leader Will Connell said. 'We have a strong team of reserves and the team are now focused on trying to win medals.'
For a city just learning about horse sport, Phillips is the athlete many in Hong Kong associate with equestrianism. During a February visit to Hong Kong, Connell was asked repeatedly about Phillips and whether or not she would be in Hong Kong.
At the time, Connell said that while he acknowledged Phillips' name in the public domain, to the team she was an athlete just like all of the other athletes and he believed she preferred it that way.
Phillips' mother, Princess Anne, competed at the 1976 Montreal Olympics in eventing and her father, Captain Mark Phillips, won a gold medal in 1972 in Munich and is a top course designer as well as a coach with the United States Eventing Association.
With Toytown, Phillips captured a gold medal in three-day eventing at the World Equestrian Games in Germany in 2006 and was later named BBC Sport Personality of the Year.
'This must be a huge disappointment to Zara particularly following the pair's success over the last few years,' Team Great Britain Chef de Mission Simon Clegg said.
'Naturally we now need to focus our full support on the rest of the team including Zara's replacement and give them every opportunity of competing to their full in Hong Kong.'
