Nina Ligon

Nina Rujiraporn Lamsam Ligon

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Nina Lamsam Ligon

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Nina Lamsam Ligon Horse "Butts Leon" Greenwich ParkOlympic 2012

Personal information

Born

8 October 1991
Bangkok Thailand

Medal record

Eventer
Asian Game
Silver	Asian Game 2010	Team
SEA GAME
Gold	SEA Game 2007	Team
Gold	SEA Game 2007	Individual

Nina Lamsam Ligon is a Thai Olympic equestrian.^[1] At the 2012 Summer Olympics she competed in the Individual eventing.^[2] She is the first woman from an Asian nation to compete in Olympic Eventing.

Biography

Nina is a dual US and Thai citizen, who has competed for both flags as a junior. When she turned 18, she elected to represent Thailand. In 2007, at the age of 15, Nina and her horse Pacific Storm competed on the (NAJYRC)US Junior Olympics team. They had a dramatic & heartbreaking near miss at “gold”, when Nina had a stop and fall at the very last fence. Later that year the pair went on to win the Individual and Team Gold medals for Thailand at the Southeast Asian Games in Thailand. Nina became both the youngest rider and the first woman to win an individual equestrian gold medal for Thailand. She was named 2007 Thai Rider of the Year. At the 2010 Asian Games in China, Nina and Chai Thai led the Thai team to Team Silver. They led after dressage and cross-country but one rail down each in the team and the individual show jumping rounds dropped them to 4th place individually. Nina and her teammate Terri Impson were the first women ever to win Eventing Medals at the ASIAN GAMES.^[3] Nina’s medals from both the SEA and ASIAN GAMES earned her the right with the Thai Olympic Council to pursue 2012 Olympic qualification. Nina has received two royal medals from the King of Thailand for outstanding service to the country.

In 2010 Nina was named the Best Young Rider (Under 21) in the USA. To our complete amazement, Nina won the Best Young Rider for a second consecutive year, sweeping all Advanced, Intermediate and Preliminary Leaderboards in 2011. She was also ranked the #2 Lady Rider and #7 Overall Rider in the USA. She then capped the year by winning the prestigious FEI HSBC Rising Star award,^[4] “given to one under 21 years old rider worldwide and across all riding disciplines, for outstanding talent and commitment.” She was # 38 on the FEI World ranking list on March 1, 2012, when Olympic individual slots were announced.

Nina started riding at the age of five, trained intensively and competed on weekends through high school. She is a graduate “B” Ponyclubber. Her trainer was Kim Severson,^[5] a US Olympic silver medalist and three times winner of the Rolex Kentucky Four Star. Nina did dressage training with Gerd Zuther.^[6] She has done jumping clinics with Katie Prudent and Bruce Davidson.

Nina graduated cum laude from Collegiate high school in 2010 and received early acceptance to Stanford University with permission to defer for 2 years to pursue 2012 Olympic Qualification. In February 2011, Nina successfully moved up to the three star level. She and Fernhill Fearless placed third at their first National 3 Star Competition, going double clean in both cross country and show jumping, and finishing on their dressage score. Then on a very wet weekend at Fairhill in April, they won at their first CIC***^[7] (short format) and were second at their first CCI *** (long format) @ Jersey Fresh. Hence the pair met the Minimum Eligibility Requirement to compete at the London Olympics 2012. In order to earn an individual slot for the Olympics, Nina needed to earn more points & stay within the TOP 13 riders on the FEI Olympic Athletes ranking (not including riders from nations like USA, Great Britain, Germany that will compete as a team). So continued a grueling point chasing journey for Nina and her horses across USA and Europe.

Nina’s quest to turn a far fetched childhood Olympic dream into reality exceeded all expectations. She was invited to compete at the LONDON TEST EVENT in June 2011. Since she had to travel to the UK, Nina took the opportunity to compete for points in Europe. Her win on Jazz King at Pardubice in the Czech Republic and 2nd place on Tipperary Liadhnan at Poplar Place, USA, boosted her ranking. But the unrelenting race to earn the precious few slots for the London Olympics continued till the bitter end on March 1, 2012. Instead of letting her horses down as she would normally do over the winter, Nina forged on point chasing. Her decisive win on Butts Leon at Poplar Place in February 2012 solidified her position on the Olympic Athletes ranking and she sat back to wait for the official announcement. On March 1, 2010, the FEI announced that Thailand has earned its spot to compete at the Olympics in Individual Eventing. For the 2008 Hongkong Olympics, 100 points earned a slot; for the London Olympics, at least 200 points were needed. Nina earn 228 points and was #36 in World ranking at the time.

2011 was an amazing year of growth & success for Nina. Thanks to her 4 upper level horses, her coaches and dedicated support team, Nina quickly became a confirmed and competitive international three star rider. She qualified 4 horses for the Olympics! After a month and half of much deserved rest for the horses, she moved them to the UK to prepare for the Games. The unprecedented wet weather in the UK caused havoc to Nina’s Olympic preparation schedule, but she managed to compete at a few big international shows including Houghton Hall, Bramham and Barbury Castle. Based on performance and soundness, Nina declared Butts Leon as her Olympic horse, and Jazz King as the spare. Nina and Butts Leon put in a polished performance to finish 41st out of 74 competitors. The youngest eventer at London 2012 & the first female eventer from Asia to compete at the OLYMPICS.

Facts on Military, Women and Eventing

1) HISTORY AS A MALE MILITARY DISCIPLINE AND SPORT:

Nina Cross country

Nina's Cross Country

Eventing is descended from the earliest days of cavalry preparation. The Greek historian and soldier Xenophon documented a system of obedience and maneuverability drills developed by the ancient Greeks to train cavalry horses for battle. In particular, the skills required for a cavalry messenger to successfully deliver a message through enemy lines were those that became the basis of Eventing competition: of control, athleticism (jumping and speed), and endurance. The first mention of competitions involving these skills was in the 17th Century, among the Swedish Royal Cavalry. Riders were instructed ”When jumping a fence, the rider should grab the mane, close his eyes, and shout ‘HEY’ ”

In 1902, the French created the first “four phase” competition, which was open only to their Cavalry officers, involving dressage, showjumping, steeplechase, and endurance. This became the basis for Eventing when it was introduced in the Stockholm Olympics in 1912. The competition, known in French as “Concours Complet d’Equitation” (“Complete Equestrian Competition”), was open only to male cavalry officers mounted on military chargers. Eventing was opened to both civilians and non-commissioned cavalry officers in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. For most of the first half of the 20th Century, most of the world’s military powers maintained full cavalry school facilities programs designed to produce riders for the Olympics. Eventing was always considered the height of military equestrian accomplishment. Even today, several Armed Forces still maintain military support for competitive eventing programs, including Italy, Ireland, France, Austria, etc.

Reference

The Army Equestrian Olympic Team by Major Louis A. DeMarco : the article gives a history of the US Army participation in Olympic equestrian sports.

2) WOMEN IN EVENTING:

The first women began riding the other equestrian disciplines of dressage and showjumping in 1952, with Lis Hartle of Denmark becoming the first woman to win an Olympic medal, winning Silver in Dressage in Helsinki.

Eventing, however, remained an all-male sport until the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, when Helena DuPont broke the barrier by riding for the US Team, which captured a Silver team medal.

Women have played an increasingly important role in Olympic Eventing as time has gone on. Since the first two women won individual medals in 1984 (Karen Stives, US, Silver; and Virginia Holgate, GB, Bronze), women have won a total of 8 of the 21 Individual medals awarded, and 4 of 6 in the last two Olympics in Athens and Beijing. Nina’s coach, Kim Severson, is one of the 4 women to win an Individual Silver medal (Athens, 2004). No woman has yet to win the Individual Gold medal in Eventing, however. Bettina Hoy of Germany initially won the Individual Gold in Athens in 2004, but it was retracted after an extended court case concluded she had violated a technical rule during the showjumping phase and was disqualified.

41 women have also won Team medals since 1964, including 8 who have won team Gold; in the last 3 Olympics (Sydney, Athens, Beijing), women have been roughly 50% of the winning team mix, winning 19 of the 42 Team medals awarded;

All of the female team medal winners have come from one of 6 perennially “powerhouse” equestrian nations: Great Britain, US, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, and Italy. All of the individual medals have gone to women from Great Britain, US, or New Zealand.

(Indeed, since 1984, all Olympic Eventing medals, both male and female, have gone to these 6 nations)

In Beijing, 28 of the 75 Eventing competitors were women; 6 of the top 10 final places went to women.

3) ASIANS IN EQUESTRIAN SPORT:

Of the approximately 3,300 equestrian competitors in the Olympics since 1912, 150 have come from South and East Asia. 98 of these were from Japan, and 30 from Korea. The others have come from China (6); Cambodia (2); Hong Kong (4); India (6); Philippines (3); and Thailand (1). Middle Eastern countries, sometimes counted as “Asian”, have sent another 31 riders, 13 each from Egypt and Saudi Arabia, 3 from Jordan, and 1 each from UAE and Lebanon.

Asians have won only one equestrian medal in the 100 years:

- Japan, Gold in Showjumping, Los Angeles, 1932; Baron Takeishi Nishi of the Imperial Japanese Army (portrayed as a major character in the Clint Eastwood film “Letters From Iwo Jima”; a favorite of the Hollywood set of the day including Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks)

- Saudi rider Khalid al-Eid also won a bronze in showjumping in Sydney 2000.

4) ASIAN WOMEN IN EQUESTRIAN SPORTS:

Only 1 Asian, and 2 Middle Eastern, women have ever competed in the Olympics in any discipline:

-Liu Lina, China, Dressage, Beijing, 2000

-Princess Haya bint al Hussein, Jordan, showjumping, Sydney 2000; (she is now President of FEI, International Equestrian Federation; and junior wife of the Emir of Dubai, UAE)

-Sheika Latifa al Maktoum, UAE, Showjumping, Beijing, 2000 (Daughter of the Emir, by a different wife)

5) NINA RUJIRAPORN LAMSAM LIGON:

No Asian woman has ever qualified to compete in Olympic Eventing prior to Nina Lamsam Ligon.

At 20 years, 9.5 months at the time of the Olympics, Nina will be one of the youngest women to ever qualify for Eventing; she is the youngest individual qualifying this time. She was also the first woman to ever win medals in the Southeast Asian Games (2007) and the Asian Games (2010).

Nina ranked 10th in points among the 20 individuals winning Olympic individual spots for their nations. Ten of the other qualifiers have competed in the Olympics at least once (6 of them finished below Nina in points), and several have multiple times; ten are women, and ten are men.

Nina is currently ranked #38 in the HSBC World Eventing Ranking list; she is the only Asian Eventer ranked in the top 50; three others, all male, are ranked in the top 100; the Japanese qualified a team at the Asian Championships; Alex Hua Tian is on the individual wait list

Kenki Sato, Japan, #75

Yoshi Oiwa, Japnn, # 78

Alex Hua Tian, China, #94

She finished the qualifying year (March 1, 2011 to March 1, 2012) ranked #36 on the Olympic ranking list of all potential competitors (team and individual) worldwide.