NORTH Yorkshire rider Nicola Wilson breathed a sigh of relief after a successful bit of damage limitation in the dressage section of the eventing competition at London 2012.
The 35-year-old, who was only called into the British team as a replacement for Piggy French, was the first Briton to take the stage in the picturesque Greenwich Arena on Saturday.
On board her horse Opposition Buzz, owned by Wetherby-based Rosemary Search, Wilson put together a solid if unspectacular dressage round, traditionally her and Britain’s weakest discipline.
Wilson ended up joint 39th in the 74-strong field after a score of 51.7 and struggled to contain her delight after avoiding disaster on her Olympic debut.
“It was fantastic, the atmosphere out in the arena is unreal and the cheers and clapping behind us is fantastic,” said Northallerton’s Wilson, who won team gold at the 2010 World Equestrian Games.
“To represent Team GB at an Olympics is a childhood dream of mine and I’ve been working since then to get here and now that it has happened I have tried to stay as much in my bubble as possible.
“I am doing all I can to treat this competition like any other and Opposition Buzz and I did ourselves proud out there.
“We managed to put together a mistake-free test, there were no little blips and I’m delighted with how he tried and stayed with me.
“This is our weakest phase but he has improved so much over the last couple of years and I think that really was the best performance that we could have produced.”
Team-mate Mary King was also in action on Saturday and impressed with a score of 40.9, good enough for 12th overall and with Tina Cook sitting in 14th and William Fox-Pitt equal 17th, Great Britain are currently in third in the team event.
But for Wilson the attention now turns to the cross-country discipline today, and she is already licking her lips in anticipation.
“We’re really excited about the cross-country, we had an easy day on Sunday while my team-mates competed and then it’s on to the big one,” she added.
“You could see how excited Opposition Buzz was from the moment the dressage he wants to now get out and gallop.”
• Lloyds TSB, proud supporter of Team GB and proud partner of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Get closer to the Games at lloydstsb.com/london2012
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