US Equestrian?s Roxanne Trunnell Makes Paralympic History in Tokyo

Tokyo Paralympics 2020 is nearing its end and the athletes are putting in all their efforts. With the games ending on the 5th of September, some sports have already been concluded.

The famous Equestrian sport also saw its last even in Tokyo recently. American rider Roxanne Trunnell finished her last event, leaving a strong mark on the games as well as Pralympic history.

Historic year for US Equestrian team

For the past 25 years, the USA had a drought of gold medals in the equestrian sport at the Paralympics. Notably, Trunnell opened the account by clinching three medals at the Tokyo games.

Interestingly, the USA had also not grabbed any medal in the sports since Athens Olympics in 2004. The athletes repeated the history of the 1996 Atlanta games where Team USA had clinched three medals, two gold, and one bronze.

At Tokyo too, the team earned three medals, two gold, and one bronze. Roxanne Trunnell was the star as she won two individual golds for the team. Trunnell won in the championship test grade, freestyle test grade, and team test events of equestrian sport.

Roxanne teamed up with Rebecca Hart and Kate Shoemaker in the team event where they won the bronze. While Trunnell was aboard on Dolton, Rebecca was with El Corona Texel, and Kate was with Solitaire 40.

New Paralympic record established by golden star Roxanne Trunnell and Dolton

Team USA’s rider Roxanne and her horse Dolton had a stellar run at the mega-event. On the last day and last event, as they established a new Paralympic record in the individual test Grade I event. Notably, Roxanne, along with her nine-year-old black gelding Dolton, scored four 10s in the event. They received only two scores below the eight and had a final mark of 86.927%.

In 2009, Roxanne caught a virus due to which she went into a coma. The incident necessitated the use of a wheelchair for the American.?Trunnell has been a rider all her life, hence she did not let her disability stop her and became a Paralympian.

Roxanne and the equestrian team opened the medal tally account of the Team USA at the Paralympics. While China is leading the overall medal tally with a scintillating 147 medals.

Also read: WATCH: Team USA Congratulates Visually Impaired Paralympians With Braille Notes at Tokyo Paralympics 2020