Kyrklund Awarded with Finnish Olympic Committee's Great Medal of Merit

Dressage

Finland

Finland's most successful rider, dressage rider and assistant professor Kyra Kyrklund was awarded a major medal of merit at the annual meeting of the Finnish Olympic Committee. Jan Vapaavuori, chairman of the board of the Finnish Olympic Committee, presented the medal of merit at the annual meeting.

Medal of Merit

For more than 50 years Kyra has promoted dressage. She generated national visibility with her own competition success, but also as a trainer of riders and horses. Kyrklund's sports achievements and the fact that she has participated eleven times in the Olympics as a rider and coach were also mentioned.

Vapaavuori said that the medal of merit will be presented to Kyrklund at an event deemed appropriate by the Finnish Equestrian Federation. The proposal was rewarded with applause from the meeting´s audience and the motion was unanimously approved.

"Kyra is a true equestrian icon and our role model. She is also a great example of how unyielding and consistent work can take a Finnish athlete to the very top of our sport. She is internationally respected both as a rider and as a coach. She is also an example of how you can stay at the top from decade to decade and at the same time pave the way for others," said Marjukka Manninen, chairman of the board of the Finnish Equestrian Federation.

Finnish Sports Hall of Fame

In January 2023, Kyrklund was elected to the Finnish Sports Hall of Fame, and she received her Uno Cup at the Finnish Sports Gala. In December 2015 she was awarded with the Ministry of Education and Culture's Pro Sport recognition award and a 20,000 euro scholarship. Recognition awards are given for a significant sports career or a significant sports achievement. In 2011, Kyrklund was appointed assistant professor at Uppsala University of Agricultural Sciences (Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet, SLU).

Kyrklund, 71, lives with her husband Richard White in Coolham, Great Britain, where they have their own training center. She has participated in the Olympics six times. In addition, she has twice been nominated for the Olympics, but was not able to participate due to an injury.

She has placed fifth three times in the Olympics (in 1980, 1988 and 1992) and was eighth in 2008 in Beijing. In addition, she has placed sixth in the team competition in Seoul in 1988. She won silver at the World Championship in Stockholm in 1990 with the horse Matador. Kyrklund won the World Cup final in 1991 in Paris.

For Finnish dressage riding, Kyrklund's importance as a coach is immeasurable. Her students have been successful internationally and are still sharing their knowledge in their own coaching work already in the second generation. She is a sought after international coach with students all over the world. The most recent success was at Herning's World Championships in 2022, where her trainee Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour won two golds and two silvers with Vamos Amigos.

She is an honorary member of the Finnish Riders' Association and her riding club Helsingin Ratsastajat.

Kyra has significant international influence. She has made a valuable contribution to dressage, e.g. in the Dressage Committee of the International Equestrian Federation, the FEI, the European Equestrian Federation, the EEF Dressage Committee and as the chairman of the International Dressage Riders' Club.

-- Text by Kati Hurme, edited by Eurodressage