Personal Data
Surname: van GrunsvenFirstname: AnkyCountry: NetherlandsDate of birth: 1968-01-02Birthplace : ErpHeight: 170 cmWeight: 55.0 kgCareer Data
Discipline: DressageOlympic Games (8 medals - 3 gold, 5 silver)World Equestrian Games (7 medals - 2 gold, 5 silver)European Championships (15 medals - 5 gold, 8 silver, 2 bronze)World Cup (11 medals - 9 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze)Biography
Dances with horsesA second great horseDutch rider Anky van Grunsven is the undisputed Queen of the dressage scene having won gold at the last three Olympics.
Only the Americans Carl Lewis in the long jump (1984, 1988, 1992, 1996) and Al Oerter in discus (1956, 1960, 1964, 1968) have won four straight gold medals, so Van Grunvsen could be one of the stories of the Games.
She and her mount Salinero set a world record score of 87.925 at a German Grand Prix in 2007, thanks to fabulous artistic impression as understanding between horse and rider hit a peak in the run-up to her third straight Olympic crown.
That title at the Beijing Games was actually won in Hong Kong's Shatin facility, where van Grunsven and Salinero edged Germany's Isabell Werth and her mount Satchmo for gold in a tightly contested event.
In 2010 van Grunvsen became involved in a row over a training technique formerly used by her husband and Dutch national dressage trainer Sjef Janssen. Authorities have now banned this rollkur method as too aggressive.
London will be van Grunsven's seventh appearance at the Games when she will be 44, and given the fact Britain's Lorna Johnstone competed at the Munich Games of 1972 aged 70, the likeable blonde may have another five in her.
All her previous horses, Prisco from the 1988 Seoul Games, Bonfire, on whom she won silver (team dressage) at Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996 before finally claiming gold together at Sydney, and Joker, who had shown promise before injury and is her favourite horse, are all still present and doted upon in her personal stables at the family farm.
Her father and brothers are all committed horse people and there are some 30 horses on the farm including the Hanoverian gelding Salerino (who will be 14 at Beijing), and who is 2004 Olympic, 2006 world and 2007 European champion.
Van Grunsven is not in the business of breeding but prefers to buy horses of proven appetite at around the age of six.
She was born in Erp, January 2, 1968 and had her first pony at the age of six and though not taking riding very seriously until maturity, won the first of her 13 national dressage titles in 1990.
She is married to a horse trainer with whom she has two children and as well as running a very busy stable and gallivanting around the world to equestrian events, she also runs a riding clothes company.
Van Grunsven says that after Bonfire she never expected to have a second great horse, but Salinero would seem to be even better than his illustrious predecessor.
Salinero is now competing with stablemate Upido to be van Grunsven's mount at London, and the veteran came back from a two-year injury lay-off in fine form meaning that if the horse keeps its fitness, he will be 18-years-old at London.
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Photos
| POS | COUNTRY | GOLD | SILVER | BRONZE | TOTAL |
| 1 | United States | 46 | 29 | 29 | 104 |
| 2 | China | 38 | 27 | 23 | 88 |
| 3 | Great Britain | 29 | 17 | 19 | 65 |
| 4 | Russia | 24 | 26 | 32 | 82 |
| 5 | South Korea | 13 | 8 | 7 | 28 |
| 6 | Germany | 11 | 19 | 14 | 44 |
| 7 | France | 11 | 11 | 12 | 34 |
| 8 | Italy | 8 | 9 | 11 | 28 |
| 9 | Hungary | 8 | 4 | 5 | 17 |
| 10 | Australia | 7 | 16 | 12 | 35 |
The largest delegation the Philippines has ever sent to the Games was 53 in the 1972 Munich Olympics.
The Philippines last reached the final round swimming 80 years ago when Jikirum Adjaluddin and Teofilo Yldefonso ended up in the final six in the 1932 Los Angeles Games.
The men's Philippine Basketball team is the first country to ever score 100 or more points in the 1948 Olympics after clobbering Iraq,102-30.
With only eight athletes in six sporting events for the London Games, this will be PH's smallest delegation since 1996.
The Philippines participated in the Winter Olympics three times, in 1972 (Juan Cipriano and Ben Nanasca, alpine skiing), in 1988 (Raymund Ocampo, luge) and in 1992 (Michael Teruel, alpine skiing).
The Philippine basketball team wound up fifth place—best finish for an Asian country in the Olympics to date—in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, the first time basketball was played as an Olympic sport.
The Philippines will shoot for its first gold medal in six of the following events in the 2012 London Olympics: Athletics, BMX, Boxing, Cycling, Shooting and Swimming.
Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao, though not competing, carries the Philippine flag at the opening of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Men's boxing has for medals in the Olympics with Anthony Villanueva, silver in the Featherweight Division of the 1964 Games in Tokyo; Leopoldo Serantes, third in 1988 Seoul; Roel Velasco, third in Barcelona; and his brother Mansueto "Onyok" Velasco, second in the 1996 Atlanta Games.
The Philippines has only won medals in three events since joining the Olympics in 1924.
The Philippines is the first nation in the tropics to ever participate in the Winter Olympic Games.
John Baylon, a nine-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist, and Jerry Diño were the last Filipino Olympic qualifiers in the discipline Judo, having vied in the 1992 Barcelona Games.
Arianne Cerdena won a gold in bowling at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, but Cerdena's gold was not included in the medal tally since bowling was considered only as a demonstration sport.
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The Philippines has not won a medal since Mansueto "Onyok" Velasco settled for silver in boxing via a controversial decision during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
The Philippines is the first country to compete and win an Olympic medal among Southeast Asian countries.
Harry Tañamor, the only Filipino predicted to win by the Sports Illustrated in its Olympic Preview edition, bows out in the first match up in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
1972 was the last year the Philippine men's basketball team, which then paraded William 'Bogs' Adornado, Danny Florencio and Yoyong Martirez among others in its line up, has qualified for the Olympics.
Teofilo Yldefonso is the first Filipino to win a medal and the only one to take home multiple medals. He finished third both in the Men's 200 meter breastroke during the 1928 and 1932 Olympics.
Mary Antoinette Rivero's tie for fifth place in Taekwondo is the closest any Filipino athlete came to a medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics.
Is this US-based Filipina gymnast bound for the Olympics? 