telegraph
By Fiona Govan
(Filed: 12/09/2005)
Zara Phillips won the gold medal at the European Eventing Championship yesterday, putting her on course for a place on the British eventing team at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Watched by her mother, the Princess Royal, and boyfriend, the England rugby player Mike Tindall, she took the Individual Gold medal at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, on her mount Toytown.
Miss Phillips made her debut at senior competition level after being selected when another team member's horse was injured.
At 24, she is the youngest member by 12 years of the Great Britain team, which also includes the Olympic gold medallist Leslie Law, William Fox-Pitt and Jeanette Brakewell.
Miss Phillips is now likely to compete for a place on the British eventing team for 2008, following in the footsteps of both her parents.
The Princess Royal, riding Doublet, won the individual gold medal at the 1971 European Championships at Burghley at the age of 21. She then went on to represent the British three-day eventing team at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal.
Zara's father, Captain Mark Phillips won a team gold medal at the 1972 Olympics in Munich and an individual silver in 1988 at the Seoul Olympics.
However, Miss Phillips hopes to improve on her parents' records. In an interview last month, she said: "I don't want to do what they did - I want to do better."
By jumping clear in the show jumping round yesterday Miss Phillips kept her lead in the three-day event and helped Britain to secure a sixth successive European team gold.
In an emotionally charged climax, she was presented with the medals by her mother, who told her: "Fantastic."
