Kristina "Tina" Cook (née Gifford, born 31 August 1970), is a British three-day

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. This ...

rider. She is the 2009 European Champion and a three-time Olympic medallist, winning individual and

team A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to inf ...

bronze medals in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

and

silver in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

. She has also won two World team golds (1994, 2010) and four European team golds (1995, 1999, 2009, 2017).

Biography

Cook was born Kristina Gifford in

Rustington Rustington is a small town and civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex. Rustington is approximately at the midpoint of the West Sussex coast and midway between the county town of Chichester and Brighton. The A259 runs along the nor ...

and is the daughter of the four times

British jump racing Champion Jockey In Great Britain's National Hunt racing, the title of Champion Jockey is bestowed on the jockey who has ridden the most winning horses during a racing season. From its inception in 1900 through to 1925, the award was given to the jockey who had r ...

Josh Gifford Josh Gifford (3 August 1941 – 9 February 2012) was a jockey and trainer in National Hunt racing. He was a four-time Champion Jockey, riding 642 winners in his career. He retired from training in 2002, aged 60, and his son Nick Gifford too ...

. Riding Miners Frolic, she won bronze medals in both the individual and team eventing at the 2008 Summer Olympics in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. Cook only made the Olympic Eventing team, after the withdrawals of Zara Phillips and

Lucy Wiegersma Lucy is an English feminine given name derived from the Latin masculine given name Lucius with the meaning ''as of light'' (''born at dawn or daylight'', maybe also ''shiny'', or ''of light complexion''). Alternative spellings are Luci, Luce, Luc ...

. She became double European Eventing champion in 2009 on Miners Frolic in both the Individual and Team competitions at the championships at Fontainebleau in France. Her achievements prior to the 2008 Olympics included winning individual silver medal at the European championships on Song and Dance Man in 1993, gold medals at the 1994 World Equestrian Games in The Hague and the 1995 and 1999 European Championships. Cook won silver in the team eventing at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. She was then picked for the team in the 2014 World Equestrian Games with her homebred horse De Novo News. This was the horse's first championship in which they helped to win team silver. Cook is also patron for the Worthing-based charity, Guild Care.

CCI 5* Results

International Championship results

Notable Horses

* Captain Christy – 1992 Bay Irish Sport Horse Gelding (Cavalier Royale x Imperious) ** 2002 World Equestrian Games – Individual 22nd Place ** 2003 European Championships – Individual 37th Place * Miners Frolic – 1998 Dark Bay Gelding (Miners Lamp) ** 2008 Beijing Olympics – Team Bronze Medal, Individual Bronze Medal ** 2009 European Championships – Team Gold Medal, Individual Gold Medal ** 2010 World Equestrian Games – Team Gold Medal, Individual 29th Place ** 2012 London Olympics – Team Silver Medal, Individual Sixth Place ** 2013 European Championships – Team Sixth Place, Individual 13th Place * De Novo News – 2003 Bay Thoroughbred Stallion (Last News) ** 2014 World Equestrian Games – Team Silver Medal, Individual 15th Place * Billy The Red – 2007 Chestnut Baden-Wurttemberger Gelding (Lilith x Stan the Man XX) ** 2017 European Championships – Team Gold Medal, Individual Fourth Place

References

https://web.archive.org/web/20130508081528/http://www.guildcare.org/About-Guild-Care {{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Kristina British event riders Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Equestrians at the 2008 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic equestrians of Great Britain British female equestrians 1970 births Living people Olympic medalists in equestrian Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics People educated at Windlesham House School People from Rustington People from Findon, West Sussex