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Sep. 2001 Stars and stripes at the Samsung Nation Cup World Finals published by sattletude.com Against all the odds and after a week of intense negotiations the United States of America will field a team for the Samsung Nations Cup World Final in Madrid on Sunday (23 September 2001). It took a co-ordinated effort from the Samsung and Madrid organisers and bloodstock agents Pedens along with the co-operation and determination of the riders themselves to make it happen, but the Stars and Stripes are flying over the showgrounds at the Club de Campo Villa de Madrid which lies just 20 minutes outside the centre of Spain\''s capital city and US riders were already in the ring today (21 September 2001). Armand Leone Jr, Vice Chairman of the United States Equestrian Team, announced last Friday the decision to withdraw the American team in the wake of the terrorist attacks which have left the world in shock, but the Samsung Nations Cup series is all about global participation and support so, although the US-based riders who were originally selected will not be lining out, three others already located in Europe will fly the flag. It was touch-and-go all week however, the crunch point coming last Tuesday evening with telephones ringing all around the world as things began to take shape. Alice Debany-Clero, who is based in Paris, was one of the first to agree to travel and when Claire Bronfman, who works from Henk Noorens\''s yard in Holland, confirmed her availability along with Richard Spooner it was \"all systems go\"!. The logistics were a bit of a nightmare. Getting any flights in the air at the moment takes a great deal of careful planning with security restrictions more rigid than ever before, but Jordan\''s Princess Haya, who is currently training with Alice, put her not inconsiderable energy into the effort and, contacting Peden\''s Managing Director Martin Atock directly, she put the wheels in motion. At incredibly late notice Martin somehow managed to find a plane in Sofia, Bulgaria and at 8.30 am on Wednesday morning it took off for Maastricht in Holland where Claire\''s horse, Charlton, was collected before flying on again to Pisa in Italy. Alice had been competing in Pinerolo the previous weekend where she scored a double of wins and her horses were transported to Pisa to take the flight on to Madrid where they arrived at 3 am on Thursday morning. \"It was difficult to arrange and there were all sorts of complications\" Martin explained today. \"There was very heavy air traffic from North America so the plane had to fly much lower usual and there were strong headwinds too so it took longer that it would otherwise have done and, when it arrived in Madrid, there was a considerable delay in getting clearance to land\" he said. Richard Spooner had an even tougher time, taking 30 hours to drive his own horses by lorry from Rolf Runge\''s yard in Germany where he has been staying for the last seven weeks. And Richard, who is lying fourth on the Riders Tour leaderboard, forfeited the chance to compete this weekend in Wiesbaden in order to make the trip. Unlike Alice and Claire he is not permanently based in Europe and was planning to return home to Los Angeles in California after competing at Aach but he jumped at the chance to represent his country and arrived in Madrid at 2am this morning. \"It is really important for us to put on a good show for America\" he said today. \"We are obviously at a disadvantage with only three riders but we are happy to be here and, now that we have actually managed to put a team together, we will be trying our very best on Sunday. In the end, that\''s what counts\" he added. \"Some riders even offered to fly over for the Final and compete with \"catch-rides\" \"Alice explained, \"but this event is too big and important to do that so we decided to stick with just the three of us. Princess Haya was wonderful - she offered her own horses if we wanted them but I\''m her trainer and I did not want to take the risk of anything happening to them in a championship like this so I said \"no thanks\"! It was very generous of her and she is one hundred percent behind us being here. It is not a political statement of any kind on her part, it\''s just pure generosity because that\''s the kind of person she is\" she added. \"It means a lot for me to be here\" Alice continued. \"I\''m a New Yorker and my husband and I know at least three of the people who died last week. But the official week of mourning is over and our flags are not at half-mast any more so we want to show the world that America is right back in there\" she said. They will have a tough battle on their hands on Sunday. Top teams from Belgium, Italy, Holland, the League Champions from Germany and the home side from Spain all mean business and with one team-member less than all the others, the US squad have their backs against the wall. The tragic events of last week however have created a huge groundswell of support for the country which has lent so much to the Samsung Nations Cup series over many years and, no matter what the outcome, emotions will be running high as Alice, Richard and Claire fly their flag with pride in this World Final of the 2000/2001 Samsung Nations Cup series. Samsung Electronics has supported sports marketing activities world-wide with a strong initiative in equestrian sports since 1988. In 1996 Samsung took the world-wide sponsorship of the Nations Cup in co-operation with the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI), the ruling body of the world-wide equestrian SPORT. The fifth Nations Cup Series season 2000/2001 started in September 2000 and will end with the World Final on 23 September 2001 in Madrid, Spain. The current season consists of 27 Nations Cups in 24 countries.
Quelle: (sattletude.com 09.2001
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