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Laura Bechtolsheimer

Laura Tomlinson
Laura Bechtolsheimer - Our Greatest Team Parade.jpg
Medal record
Representing  Great Britain
EquestrianDressage
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2012 Olympic Games Team Dressage
(with Mistral Højris)
Bronze medal – third place 2012 Olympic Games Individual Dressage
(with Mistral Højris)
World Championships
Silver medal – second place 2010 Kentucky Team – Grand Prix
(with Mistral Højris)
Silver medal – second place 2010 Kentucky Individual – Grand Prix Special
(with Mistral Højris)
Silver medal – second place 2010 Kentucky Individual – Grand Prix Freestyle
(with Mistral Højris)
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 2011 Rotterdam Team – Grand Prix
(with Mistral Højris)
Silver medal – second place 2009 Windsor Team – Grand Prix
(with Mistral Højris)
Bronze medal – third place 2009 Windsor Individual – Grand Prix Special
(with Mistral Højris)
Bronze medal – third place 2011 Rotterdam Individual – Grand Prix Special
(with Mistral Højris)

Laura Tomlinson (née Bechtolsheimer) MBE (born 31 January 1985, in Mainz, Germany) is a German-born British dressage rider competing at Olympic level. As of 30 June 2012 the Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI) ranked her 3rd in the world riding Mistral Højris and 36th on Andretti H. In that year, Tomlinson, riding Mistral Højris under her maiden name of Laura Bechtolsheimer, won two medals in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London; gold for Great Britain in the team dressage with Carl Hester and Charlotte Dujardin, the first ever Olympic team gold in the discipline for her country, and bronze in the individual dressage behind gold medalist and compatriot Dujardin.

A granddaughter of the German billionaire property magnate Karl-Heinz Kipp who founded the Massa chain of department stores, Bechtolsheimer was born in Mainz, Germany in 1985 to German parents Wilfried, an entrepreneur and horse trainer, and Ursula. She has three brothers, Felix, a singer with rock group Hey Negrita who battled heroin addiction and now tours prisons helping others, Goetz, and Till. The family moved to Ampney St Peter in Gloucestershire when she was one.

Bechtolsheimer started riding aged three having been given a pony called Peacock for her birthday.  She went on to compete in Pony Club eventing and won the National Championships of Independent Schools at Stonar School aged 12. Bechtolsheimer attended St Marys Calne school in Wiltshire, and started to concentrate on dressage aged 13. She was selected to ride at the Pony European Championship the following season, winning a team silver medal at her first major competition.


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Wikipedia

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