Gina Smith

Athlete (1989)

Horseback Riding

The climb to the top was long and hard. In 1968 Gina joined the Saskatoon Pony club. Twenty years later she was competing at the Olympics in Seoul. Born on November 11, 1957, Gina became a team member for Saskatchewan at the National Pony club team that competed in the Inter-Pacific Pony club exchange. By 1979, Gina was National Dressage champion at the Medium level. That same year, while continuing to compete, she also started coaching.

In 1982, she received a scholarship to train in Germany with Johann Hinneman for seven weeks. She continued training in Germany and in December purchased a horse called Malte III. While overseas she competed in many international shows and she continued training. She performed well in the Olympics trials and was selected to go to Seoul. She was a member of the Dressage team that won a bronze medal.

In September 1988 she was named Sask Sport female athlete and also named female Athlete of the Year.