Jessica Springsteen of Team United States riding Don Juan Van De Donkhoeve competes during the Jumping Individual Qualifier on day eleven of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Equestrian Park on August 03, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan.
Bruce Springsteen’s showjumper daughter says she is “thrilled” with her Olympic performance despite not qualifying for the individual final.
Jessica Springsteen, riding Don Juan Van De Donkhoeve, did not make the top 30 in the qualifying round for the event at the Tokyo 2020 games.
But she will get a chance to compete for a medal as part of the American four-rider entry in the team showjumping event on Friday.
“All in all, I’m thrilled with the round, and I’m excited for the rest of the week,” she said after the event.
Springsteen, 29, who is the daughter of the rock and roll legend and fellow E Street Band member Patti Scialfa, knocked down a rail at the eleventh of 14 obstacles on the course.
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Media access to Springsteen, who is ranked the third best show jumper in the US and 27th in the world, has been tightly controlled in Japan, with reporters covering her event warned by US Equestrian to not ask about her famous family.
Officials have also denied all requests for interviews with Springsteen.
While her parents were touring the world, Springsteen, 29, grew up in New Jersey, a state lionised in many of her father’s biggest hits.
The family own 368-acre Stoen Hill farm in Colts Neck, where they had horses, goats, pigs, chickens and ostriches, and it was there she says she fell in love with horses and learned to ride.
“I started riding when I was really little. My mom had always wanted to ride so when we moved to New Jersey she started taking lessons,” she said.
“Our home is right across the road from one of the top junior training barns – and I went right into that when I was a teenager.”
After graduating from the Ranney School in Tinton Falls, New Jersey, she went to Duke University in North Carolina, where she graduated with a degree in psychology.
During her equestrian career she has earned nearly $2m, and her parents have been supportive of her work, helping raise money for the US equestrian team with concerts and auctions.
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She was a back-up for the 2012 Olympics but missed out entirely on the 2016 games.
“Been dreaming of this since I can remember,” she wrote on Instagram after being chosen for the 2020 team.
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