Virginia Helen Antoinette Elliott

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(née Holgate, formerly Leng; born 1 February 1955), sometimes known as Ginny Leng, is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: * Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes i ...

competitor who competed in

eventing Eventing (also known as three day eventing or horse trials) is an equestrian event where a single horse and rider combine and compete against other competitors across the three disciplines of dressage, cross-country, and show jumping. Thi ...

. She is the 1986

World Champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

and three-time Individual European Champion (1985, 1987, 1989). She also won two World team golds (1982 and 1986) and four European team golds (1981, 1985–89). A four-time Olympic medallist, she won Individual bronze and team silver in both 1984 and 1988. From 2008 to 2013, she was the manager of the Irish eventing team.

Major wins

World and European titles: *1985 European champion – Priceless *1986 World champion – Priceless *1987 European champion – Night Cap II *1989 European champion – Master Craftsman

Badminton Horse Trials The Badminton Horse Trials is a eventing, five-day event, one of only six annual Concours Complet International, Concours Complet International (CCI) Five Star events as classified by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports, Fédér ...

: *1985 – Priceless, *1989 – Master Craftsman, *1993 – Welton Houdini

Burghley Horse Trials The Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials is an annual three-day event held at Burghley House near Stamford, Lincolnshire, England, currently in early September. Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials is classified by the FEI as one of the six leading th ...

: *1983 – Priceless, *1984 – Night Cap II, *1985 – Priceless, *1986 –

Murphy Himself {{MedalBottom Murphy Himself was a horse that excelled in the sport of eventing, under rider Ian Stark. Born in 1978, Murphy Himself was first ridden by Ginny Leng. She bought him in Northern Ireland as a supposed four-year-old (although ...

*1989 – Master Craftsman (first person to win Burghley five times).

Personal life

Born Virginia Holgate and raised in

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

, she married Hamish Leng in 1985. The couple divorced in 1989. In 1993, she married Michael Elliott. Her Horses Night Cap II and Priceless, were by the eventing stallion Ben Faerie. Since the 1980s, she has written several books.British Library In 1987, she participated in Prince Edward's charity television special ''

The Grand Knockout Tournament ''The Grand Knockout Tournament'' (also known as ''It's a Royal Knockout'') was a one-off charity event which took place on 15 June 1987, and was shown on British television on 19 June 1987 (BBC1, repeated on 27 December 1987), in addition to a ...

''.

References

1955 births Living people British event riders Olympic equestrians for Great Britain British female equestrians Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Equestrians at the 1984 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 1988 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in equestrian Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Members of the Order of the British Empire {{UK-equestrian-bio-stub