Edwina Alexander Article from Issue 3 of Equestrian Life Magazine

24 SPECIAL FEATURE—SHOWJUMPING
edwinA And cevO itOt du châteAu On their wAy tO winning the 7th leg Of the glOBAl chAMPiOnS tOur in chAntilly.
riding when I reached that million euro
mark on the Global Champions Tour.”
Following on from her WEG success,
Edwina was part of the 2008 Australian
Olympic team in Hong Kong where she
finished ninth individually, riding Cevo
Itot du Château. Since then, she has gone
from strength to strength, working her
way up the rankings list. “My aim now
is to be the number one overall (not just
female number one), then I want to win
the final of the Global Champions Tour
and after that I will concentrate on the
London Olympics.”
The Global Champions Tour was the
idea of Edwina’s soon-to-be husband,
Jan Tops, a highly successful Dutch
showjumper. Jan rode at four consecutive
Olympic games (1988–2000), winning
a team gold medal at Barcelona in 1992.
“I met Jan when I first moved to Europe
but it wasn’t until we met again four years
later that we started a relationship. Jan
and I seem to complement each other
because we are both very determined,
motivated people who always look at the
positive, which I think is one of the keys
to success. It was in 2006 that the idea
of the GCT came about. Jan and I were
in Malaysia at a show and he said he
couldn’t sleep because he had just had an
amazing idea. He sat in the bathroom and
scribbled down ten pages of notes, which
I read the following morning. I thought
the idea was incredible … all he had to do
was pull it off.”
The ‘simple’ aim of the GCT was
to promote showjumping to a wider
audience. Shows are run in some of
the world’s most impressive locations,
including Cannes, Chantilly and Rio de
Janeiro, with substantial prize money on
offer. The series is showcased to the world
through live broadcasts, which gives the
GCT the cachet of a high-class event,
attracting major sponsors like Jaeger-
LeCoultre. Now in its sixth season, GCT
appears, certainly to the outsider, to have
achieved its objective. It is loved by riders
and showjumping followers the world
over, and this year Edwina is well on
her way to winning the final, the last leg
of which will be held in Abu Dhabi in
November at the magnificent Al Forsan
International Sports Resort.
Edwina’s small frame, good looks
and undoubted talent are complemented
by a wonderful range of exclusive
Gucci clothing which Edwina can be
seen wearing at all her major shows.
Photo: Stefano grasso/gct