Editors Note: Just one day before his event, UVA graduate and Olympian Will Coleman was scratched from competition at the Paris Games because his horse, Diabolo, had a possible abscess in his right front foot. Coleman encouraged Team USA on his Facebook page.
The Paris Olympics will see Hoos competing in the pool, on the courts and even out of the barn.
Will Coleman, who graduated from the University of Virginia in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in history and economics earned in just three years, will compete on the U.S. equestrian team in his second Olympic Games.
Coleman competed in the 2012 London Games, finishing 37th individually and helping the U.S. team place seventh in the team equestrian event.
At the Olympics, the equestrian competition is divided into three categories: dressage, jumping and eventing. Coleman will compete in eventing, a series of events that originated as part of cavalry training and includes dressage, cross country and show jumping. Coleman was scheduled to ride Off the Record, an Irish Sport Horse with the barn nickname “Timmy,” but instead will compete aboard Diabolo, a Holsteiner. The pair are well acquainted, taking first in at an international eventing in Lexington, Kentucky in April.
Diabolo is a relative newcomer to Coleman’s barn, having been purchased from Australia in 2023. He spent most of that year acclimating to the northern hemisphere and new surroundings.
Timmy and Coleman had solid performances in the past three years. In 2021, they won the invitation-only eventing competition in Achen, Germany, considered one of the most prestigious international equestrian events.
In 2022, Coleman road Timmy on the U.S. team that won the silver medal at the 2022 FEI Eventing World Championship in Italy. That year, the U.S. Equestrian Federation named Coleman an Equestrian of Honor.
Coleman, who grew up near Charlottesville, started riding at 6 years old. He was an accomplished equestrian by the time he enrolled at UVA in 2004 and continued riding as a student.
“I had a great experience attending UVA,” he told the equestrian magazine Sidelines. “I kept riding throughout my college years and made sure to keep learning by taking lessons.”
Coleman and his wife Katie, a professional eventing and dressage rider, operate Will Coleman Equestrian based in Florida.
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Article Information
October 17, 2024
