Marion Janice Mould (née Coakes, born 6 June 1947) is an English show-jumper. She competed for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

, winning a silver medal in the individual jumping event.

Early life

Coakes was born in June 1947. Her father, Ralph, was a farmer in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

. Her elder brothers, John and Douglas, were also on the British junior show jumping team. At the age of three she learned to ride on a donkey. In 1960, her father bought Stroller, an eight-year-old pony, originally imported in a job-lot from Ireland. Stroller was 16 at the end of Marion's junior career, and her father wanted to replace him with a larger horse, but Marion was not willing to let him go and continued showing on the pony.

Career

In her second season as a senior Marion won the Queen Elizabeth II Cup—a former international ladies class event—that took place at the

Royal International Horse Show The Royal International Horse Show (originally the International Horse Show) is the official horse show of the British Horse Society and consists of both showing and showjumping events. The event is held during July each year at the All England ...

. That year, she won three Nations Cup events, helping to win the Presidents Cup. In 1964 Marion won the

Hickstead Hickstead may refer to: * All England Jumping Course at Hickstead The All England Jumping Course at Hickstead, known widely as Hickstead, is an equestrian centre in West Sussex, England, principally known for its showjumping. It hosts two inte ...

Derby Trial and placed second to Seamus Hayes in the Hickstead Derby, and the following year Marion rode Stroller to a gold medal in the ladies

World Championship 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, ...

. She won the 1967 Hickstead Derby, placed second in 1968 and third in 1970. Marion competed at the

in both the team and the individual jumping events. In the individual jumping she won a silver medal. In 1970, Coakes won the

Hamburg Derby The Hamburg derby or ''Hamburger Stadtderby'' is a football rivalry between two major Hamburg sides, Hamburger SV and FC St. Pauli. In total, the two sides met 107 times since 1919, of which Hamburger SV won 68 games and FC St. Pauli won 23 games ...

with a clear round–the fiftieth recorded on the course and the first time by a female rider. That year Stroller was the leading show jumper

Horse of the Year Show The Horse of the Year Show - also known as HOYS (pronounced /hois/)- was founded to be a culmination of the British equestrian events year. The Show was the idea of Captain Tony Collings and was realised by the then Chairman of BSJA (now British ...

. Following Stroller's retirement, Marion continued to jump and won the Queen Elizabeth II Cup again in 1976 while riding on a new mount, Elizabeth Ann.

Personal life

In 2006, Marion Coakes was inducted into The

British Horse Society The British Horse Society (BHS) is a membership-based equine charity, with a stated vision of "a Society which provides a strong voice for horses and people and which spreads awareness through support, training and education". It currently has ...

Equestrian Hall of Fame. She married the jockey

David Mould David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

in 1969, and they have a son named Jack.

Media appearances

Coakes played a part in season 4, episode 3 of '' Monty Python's Flying Circus''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coakes, Marion Living people British show jumping riders 1947 births Olympic medalists in equestrian British female equestrians Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Equestrians at the 1968 Summer Olympics