Rio 2016 groom recognition

"Four Olympiad’s ago I was proud to be a dressage groom and a reserve for the team for the Sydney Olympic Games.

At that time the interest in the back room team was virtually non existant. The media’s focus was soley on the riders and their horses. There was the odd article mentioning the grooms, but in general they were the forgotten about hardworking heroes. 

Roll the clock forward to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and the interest level in grooms could not be more different! 

From the very beginning of the Games the media have been reporting and recognising the outstanding dedication and work from our Team GB super grooms. It all started with coverage of the journeys out to Rio, with the travelling grooms featuring on the BBC and has grown arms and legs since!

The innovation of social media has enabled us here at the BGA to highlight the brilliant work of the grooms, and we decided that although we would celebrate and report on competition successes, we would virtually never post without mentioning the relevant grooms alongside the riders. 

Thanks to so much support from the grooms (most who are BGA members)  and all of the Team GB riders, our campaign of recognising the grooms left at home also went viral. #hometeamforRio was nearly trending and Charlotte Dujardin loved it so much that she also pushed it out on her social media streams too. 

A big thank you to you guys too who have kept liking, commenting and sharing posts, every click shows your support and interest and means so much.

What a change this was from 2000, 2004, 2008 and even 2012. Never before have the grooms received SO much recognition and respect for their role that they perform as part of Team GB. 

Our gold medalists, Nick and Charlotte, were immediately citing their success in part due to their loyal grooms; and even the riders who it didn’t ‘go to plan’, were thanking their staff for their amazing work. 

When I formed the BGA in 2007, one of our initial aims was to increase the recognition of the role of a groom. I think in the year 2016 I am so proud to say that we have achieved that aim!

Grooms are now respected and publically recognised professionals. I do think that this recognition needs to cascade down to all yards, and not just Olympic ones, but in time this will happen. 

We would like to thank EquestrianTeamGBR, the FEI , all of the Team GB riders, silver and gold medalists and most of all the grooms who made this all possible. 

We are a very proud team at the BGA and hope that the grooms of Great Britain join their professional association so we can continue this great work on their behalf."

#ThreeHearts

Lucy Katan
Exec Director