Анна Курсински: Путь американской наездницы к олимпийским медалям

American equestrian

Anne Kindig Kursinski (born April 16, 1959) is an American showjumper and two time Olympic silver medalist in team jumping, at Seoul 1988 and Atlanta 1996. Representing the United States, she was a member of five Olympic teams, forty seven Nations Cup teams, and three World Equestrian Games teams. Kursinski rode in the Seoul 1988, Barcelona 1992, and Atlanta 1996 Olympics; she was an alternate for the Los Angeles 1984 and Beijing/Hong Kong 2008 Olympics. She started competing for the United States Equestrian Team in 1978. She won individual and team gold medals at the 1983 Pan American Games in Venezuela, riding Livius. She became the first American to win the Grand Prix of Rome, Italy in 1983. In Rome, she also contributed to an American win in the Nations' Cup competition.

In 1984, Kursinski was named to the United States Olympic team as an alternate. She was also recognized with the "Up and Coming Athlete" award from the Women's Sports Foundation. In 1986, she placed first with Team USA at CSIO Washington. In 1987, she was ranked as the number five female rider by L'Anne Hippique, and placed first with Team USA at CSIO Spruce Meadows. In 1988, Kursinski was ranked as the number three female rider in the world by L'Anne Hippique. She competed with Team USA at CSIO New York, CSIO Hickstead and CSIO Aachen. Kursinski was named to the United States Olympic team and competed at the 1988 Olympics, finishing fourth individually with her horse Starman, and winning a team silver.

Kursinski is a USHJA clinician, member of the USHJA and USET Executive Committees and of the USEF Board of Directors. In 2011, Kursinski was voted America's Favorite Show Jumping Equestrian. In 2012, she served as USEF chef d'equipe at the CSIOYJ in Belgium. That same year, she released the second edition of her book Anne Kursinski's Riding and Jumping Clinic. She was a team selector for the 2014 U. S. WEG bronze medal team and the 2016 U. S. Olympic silver medal team. Anne teaches an Equestrian Masterclass on "Bringing Out the Best in Your Horse" at Noëllefloyd. com.

Kursinski lives in Frenchtown, New Jersey, where she keeps Australian shepherds, German shepherds and housecats as pets. Her life partner is Carol Hoffman. when they were children in his riding program at Flintridge. Kursinski felt compelled to speak out in part because of the USA gymnastics scandal. She spoke about the reaction from the equestrian community: “Another trainer came to me and said, ‘I don’t agree. Jimmy’s dead.' I just said, ‘I’m telling you it happened. I’m not making anything up.’ When they said, ‘I know, I know, but he’s not here to defend himself,’ I said, ‘I get it if that’s the way you feel about it.’ It did happen, and I got an apology from [Williams]. I know it’s true. I heard later that the person who confronted me was really surprised I didn’t yell or get really upset." “This happened to me. I’m sharing this so that I might save another kid’s life. What I don’t understand is when some old friends say that we should not have opened this ugly door for fear it will make things worse. Worse for whom? What about the next young girl or boy who is groomed and then molested? These children are whom it will be worse for. No, they seem to think that it will be bad for business and bad for the sport. I believe this discussion, no matter how hard, is good for the equestrian business and the sport.”A New York Times article alleged that Williams sexually abused girls and young women from the mid 1950s to the early 1990s, relying on interviews with 38 witnesses. As a result of the allegations, mementos of Williams were removed from Flintridge Riding Club.