Mary King

Sport: Equestrian

Nation: Great Britain

DOB: June 8, 1961

Hometown: Salcombe Regis

Career Highlights: The queen of British eventing, London is Mary King’s sixth Olympics at the age of 51. With an Olympic silver and bronze in team eventing to her name, King also has two World, four European and four British Open titles on her sporting cv. The veteran has been at the top of her sport for over 30 years, and Olympic gold in her home country would be a fitting end to a star studded career. Raised as the daughter of a verger, King began riding at the age of six and turned her attention to professional eventing as a teenager. Team eventing has been her speciality, and the most recent of her major titles came at the 2010 World Championships in Kentucky where she won gold alongside William Fox-Pitt, Nicola Wilson and Kristina Cook. A broken neck kept her out of competition for a year in 2001. She has had two computer games named after her - Mary King’s Riding Star and Mary King’s Riding School. Germany and Austria beat Great Britain to gold and silver in Beijing and the two are likely to be the strongest challengers again in 2012.

Olympic History: 2008,2004,2000,1996,1992