Eric Lamaze & Tiffany Foster Named to Canadian Olympic Showjumping Team

2 more Canadian equestrian athletes have been named to the Canadian Equestrian Team representing the maple leaf at the 2016 Rio Olympics later this summer.

Eric Lamaze and Fine Lady 5
Tiffany Foster and Tripple XXX

Lamaze, who is currently at Spruce Meadows competing, spoke with the Calgary Herald . 

But you won't find Lamaze and Fine Lady 5 in the big Grand Prix classes at Spruce. Instead, Lamaze will be riding the 13-year-old Hanoverian mare, owned by Artisan Farms, in a number of 1.55-metre classes. The Olympics is at the 1.60m level. 

“Every time I’ve done that with her and asked her to do a big class, she always did it easy,” Lamaze said. “I’m not going to change my plan. That’s maybe why you won’t see her in a Grand Prix here and you may not see her in a Grand Prix the last week but you’ll see me riding her in the Olympics."

Although this will technically be Tiffany Foster's second Olympic appearance,  she told North Shore News that she will be treating Rio as her first Olympics. As many equestrian enthusiasts will recall,Foster and her mount Victor were disqualified after the qualification round in London 2012 due to the FEI's controversial hypersensitivity rule.

 “I’m going to kind of erase it, I’m going to pretend that it’s my debut. (London) was just a warm up,” said 31-year-old Foster. “I know myself personally, I feel a lot more prepared and experienced than I did – I really went to the last Olympics as a bit of a rookie on an inexperienced horse. I’m really grateful that I got to go but I definitely feel a lot more prepared going to this one. I’ve been competing on the global stage for the last four years now, since those last Olympics.” 

Following Spruce Meadows, both Lamaze and Foster will return to their base in Antwerp Belgium before then flying their horses from Europe to Brazil. 

Rumoured to be joining the pair are their 2014 World Equestrian Games teammates Yann Candele, this time with First Choice 15. 

The fourth teammate is up in the air following Ian Millar's announcement that his top mount Dixson is recovering from sinus surgery. Watch Ian's interview . 

 

with files from the Calgary Herald .