Jessica Springsteen, daughter of rock legend Bruce Springsteen, won equestrian jumping team silver with the United States at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday after disappointment in the individual event.
The 29-year-old, who failed to qualify for the individual jumping final on her horse Don Juan van de Donkhoeve, pocketed silver as the USA finished behind Sweden in a jump-off. Belgium won bronze.
Springsteen said that she had done “a really quick” video call with her family back home.
“They were all screaming, I don’t think we understood anything,” she said. “Just saw their Team USA gear, there was just lots of shouting. I couldn’t make a lot out, but I know that they’re so excited.”
They were not the only ones to celebrate Springsteen’s success. Stevie Van Zandt, a member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, tweeted: “It’s her first freakin Olympics! Absolutely incredible! She’s put in years of hard work of course, but still!”
The youngest member of the United States team summed up her team’s performance by saying: “It was wild. Watching the last couple go, wondering if you’re going to have to jump off or not. You start to get the jitters but it was also super exciting.
“We all gave it all out there.”
Springsteen is not the first equestrian competitor with famous parents to compete at the Olympics.
Princess Anne, the daughter of Queen Elizabeth II, represented Britain at the 1976 Montreal Games and Anne’s daughter, Zara Tindall, jumped at London in 2012, winning a silver medal.
Springsteen began taking equestrian lessons at the age of five, and has made a name for herself as an elite jumper.
As recently as March, she was named to the U.S. Jumping Team that won the FEI Jumping Nations Cup.
Later that month, she placed fifth in the $500,000 Rolex Grand Prix CSI5 with her horse.”
It’s one of the reason she was a little disappointed with her performance in Tokyo, despite her team’s silver medal-win.
“I was disappointed to have the four faults,” Springsteen said.
“I kind of took for granted a little bit, I wasn’t really expecting that to be one of my challenges. So I’m disappointed in that regard.
“But I thought my horse jumped the rest of the course absolutely beautifully and, I was just thinking of that left-hand turn there I want it to be neat on my time so, I think that’s why I had it down but all in all, he was amazing this entire week so, I’m so happy him.”
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