Buenos Aires, Argentina – Mattie Hatcher (Little Rock, Ark.) will represent the United States this week as she competes under the flag on the North American Team for the Jumping International Team competition, as well as an individual competitor, at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, October 8-13. The North American Team, led by U.S. Youth Chef d’Equipe DiAnn Langer, will consist of Hatcher from the U.S., Mateo Coles from Haiti, Pedro Jose Espinosa from Honduras, Nicole Meyer Robredo from Mexico, and Marisa Thompson from Panama. They will compete against five teams from nations in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and South America as competition gets underway on Monday, October 8 with the 1.30m round one of the Jumping International Team competition.
All of the athletes will compete on borrowed horses and drew his or her horse on Thursday, October 4. Hatcher drew the horse Santa Rosa Valerie for the duration of the competition.
Hatcher was nominated by US Equestrian in July to represent the United States in Buenos Aires. As one of the two highest-placing nations in the Individual Final at the 2017 North American Junior Championship, the United States earned qualification for one show jumping athlete to participate in the 2018 Youth Olympic Games.
Hatcher recently represented the U.S. on the Junior Nations Cup Team at the Langley Odlum Brown BC Open with Cristiano. She and her eight-year-old Swedish Warmblood gelding jumped a clear second round, leading to a jump-off, which resulted in a gold medal for the team. Hatcher was also a part of the Zone 7 gold-medal team at the 2017 Adequan®/FEI North American Youth Championships presented by Gotham North.
The third edition of the Summer Youth Olympic Games will feature 32 sports, bringing approximately 4,000 young athletes, ages 15 to 18, from 206 nations together. Like the Olympic Games, athletes will participate in Opening and Closing ceremonies and live in the Youth Olympic Games Village.
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