Jack Whitaker Selected for Youth Olympic Games
Jack Whitaker has been selected to represent Team GBR at the 2018 Youth Olympics in Bueno Aires, Argentina.
Jack, 16, is the son of Olympic equestrian rider Micheal Whitaker and will take part in the games on a borrowed horse.
Athletes taking part in the equestrian event at the Youth Olympics will be introduced to their horse 4 days before the competition begins. Horses used in the competition will have been carefully selected by an expert group before their assigning riders.
The team competition will commence on 8th October, the Individual competition taking place between 12-13 October.
Jack will become the become the third British equestrian athlete to compete at the Youth Olympics. Previously, Carian Scudamore represented Team GBR in 2010 and Jake Saywell participated in 2014.
Jack also becomes one of 42 athletes selected to represent Team GBR in the Games.
The Games play a “crucial role in the development of young athletes from the United Kingdom and across the world”, sport-persons such as Tom Daley, Jade Jones and Duncan Scott all achieving success at the Youth Olympic Games.
This year’s Games is expected to host approximately 4,000 young athletes from 206 nations. The games also champion gender equality, making history by becoming the first Olympic event to host the same number of male and female athletes.
Team GB’s Chef de Mission for Buenos Aires 2018, Mahdi Choudhury stated on the Team announcements;
Being selected to Team GB for a Youth Olympic Games is a fantastic achievement and our 42 young athletes should be hugely proud to be heading out to Argentina next month.”
Buenos Aires 2018 will offer a fantastic opportunity for our team to experience a multi-sport event for the first time and I’m sure it will act as a great springboard for their own senior Olympic dreams.”
AUTHOR
Journalist and News Reporter, Everything Horse
Reporting on equestrian news stories, Abby also produces a variety of engaging content for the magazine.