Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||
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Nationality | British | |||||||||||||||||
Born | Knowle, England | 29 April 1933|||||||||||||||||
Died | 29 March 2016 | (aged 82)|||||||||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Equestrian | |||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Diana Mason, OBE [1] [2] (29 April 1933 – 29 March 2016) was a British equestrian. [3] She was part of the Great Britain team that won gold in the team event at the European Eventing Championships in 1954 and 1955. [4] She also competed at the 1976 Summer Olympics and the 1988 Summer Olympics. [5]
Mason was born in Knowle, in the West Midlands in 1933. [3] She started to ride horses from a young age and got her first horse when she was seventeen years old. [3] In 1954, Mason became the first woman to be selected for the British three day eventing team. [3] In the same year, she won gold at the European Eventing Championships. [6]
Mason competed at two Olympic Games. [4] At the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, she competed in the individual and team dressage events, finishing in 25th and 8th places respectively. [7] [8] Twelve years later, at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, she competed in the same two events, finishing in 37th place in the individual event, [9] and 10th in the team event. [10] Mason was also a reserve for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. [3]
She retired from competing in 1991. [3] From 1975 to 1992, Mason was the chair of the British Horse Society Dressage Group, [4] and she was the team manager for Great Britain at the 1996 Summer Paralympics in Atlanta. [4] Mason continued to judge events until 2013. [3]
In January 2008, Mason was named an OBE for services to equestrian sport in the New Year Honours. [11] She died in March 2016, at the age of 82. [12]