Edwina Tops-Alexander

Edwina Tops-Alexander
Edwina Tops-Alexander (April 2012)
Born	(1974-03-29) March 29, 1974 Sydney, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Alma mater	Pymble Ladies College Australian College of Physical Education
Occupation	Equestrian Show Jumper
Years active	1995-present
Known for	2012 Summer Olympics and winning The Global Champions Tour twice
Height	5'5"
Weight	110 lbs
Spouse(s)	Jan Tops

Edwina Alexander and Pialotta, FEI-World Cup Final 2007, Las Vegas

Edwina Tops-Alexander at the Internationalen PfingstTurnier Wiesbaden 2013

Edwina Tops-Alexander (born 29 March 1974 in Sydney) is an Olympic-level equestrian rider, who competes for Australia. Her coach and husband is former Dutch champion Jan Tops. She uses the Netherlands as her base for most of the year at Stal Tops Valkenswaard.

Early riding

Alexander began riding at the age of eight. She became interested in horses because her neighbor had a barn and she watched them ride on the weekends. The Avondale Pony Club in North Turramurra, New South Wales was where she first began riding. In 1995 she won the Australian Young Rider Championships.^[1] In 1998, wanting to ride against the top riders in the world, she moved to Europe, taking her horse, Mr. Dundee, with her to Belgium.^[2] In 1999, before beginning her own company, she competed for Ludo Philippaerts, a famous show jumper, for about three years.^[3]

Career

In 2006 in Aachen Germany, she became the first Australian to make the final of the individual jumping competition at the World Equestrian Games, where she finished fourth despite entering the competition as 35th in world show jumping rankings. Brussels, Valkenswaard, London, Zurich, Cannes, Geneva, Vigo, and Doha are just few of the places where Edwina has won Grand Prix shows. She was selected for the jumping events at the 2008 Summer Olympics where she rode Isovlas Itot du Chateau. She placed 9th in the individuals and 7th in the team competition.^[4] She was the overall champion of the Global Champions Tour in both 2011 and 2012. Not only did she win twice in a row but she was the very first rider to win a total of one million euros of prize money on the tour.^[5] Also in 2012, at the age of 38, she rode in the individual show jumping for Australia at the Summer Olympics. She rode 'Itot Du Chateau' and finished in a time of 81.77s with 4 faults. This put her in 20th place for the individual competition and for them team competition Australia was 10th.^[6] The current horses she rides and competes with are Itot du Chateau, a seventeen year old chestnut gelding, Guccio,an eleven year old dark bay stallion, Ego van Orti, a nine year old bay gelding, Erenice Horta, a nice year old grey BWP mare, Mel d'Argences, a 13 year old bay Selle Francais mare by Quick Star and Vienna Olympic, a futhure star, an eight year old Holstein mare. Itot du Chateau has been the most successful of all her horses. Her goal for 2013 is to winning the Longines Global Champions Tour the 3rd time in a row.

Personal life

Alexander attended Pymble Ladies College, in Sydney. She got a Bachelor of Physical Education at the Australian College of Physical Education in 1995.^[7] In September 2011 she married Jan Tops who was also her trainer.^[8] Out of all her shows she only had one major injury in 2005 where she was not riding for three weeks due to a broken foot.

Endorsements

The well-known designer label, Gucci, sponsors Edwina Tops Alexander and they even made her a customized set of clothes for riding. Also, Connolly's RED MILLS is proud to say that Edwina Tops Alexander has a partnership with them. All her horses will be fed by this company for each of their individual needs. Edwina is also an ambassador for Jaeger-LeCoultre, the Swiss watch company.^[9]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Edwina Alexander.

• Australian Olympic Committee profile
• SMH – Alexander is riding high