Scarborough-born Lottie Fry earns place in Olympic final

Scarborough-born Lottie Fry made a superb start to the individual dressage competition at the Olympics in Tokyo this weekend, earning a spot in the final.
Lottie with one of her horses Z Flemmenco. (Pic credit: Gary Longbottom)Lottie with one of her horses Z Flemmenco. (Pic credit: Gary Longbottom)
Lottie with one of her horses Z Flemmenco. (Pic credit: Gary Longbottom)

On her 12-year-old stallion Everdale, Lottie, 25, topped Group A of qualifying by a comfortable margin at the Tokyo Equestrian Park, scoring 77.096, a personal best for the duo at international Grand Prix level.

This means Lottie will compete in Wednesday’s Grand Prix Freestyle final, chasing an Olympic medal.

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The art of dressage is in Lottie's blood as her late mother, Laura Fry, competed in the 1992 Olympics and won the European team silver medal before going on to run a successful dressage training yard.

Lottie began training from a young age, even starting riding horses before she could walk.

Her original mentor and cheerleader was her mum, who trained with her every day. Her mother passed away in September 2012.

From 2012, Lottie trained with British Olympic Gold Medalist, Carl Hester MBE, whose support landed her a place at Van Olst Horses, a professional equestrian training centre in Holland.

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During her training she worked with five-tme Danish Olympic champion, Anne Van Olst.

In 2014, Lottie moved to the Netherlands and rides roughly 10 to 12 horses a day, from young, inexperienced animals to Grand Prix horses.

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