Tri-Cities para-equestrian is 1st American to win gold in the sport in 25 years
Roxanne Trunnell will leave Japan’s 2020 Paralympics with three medals — two of them gold.
She became the first American to win a gold medal in the sport in 25 years.
The top-ranked equestrian who grew up in Richland won a second gold medal in her final event Monday in the Dressage Individual Freestyle Test, Grade 1.
The day before, Trunnell, along with teammates Rebecca Hart of Erie, Pa.; and Kate Shoemaker of Wellington, Fla.; earned a bronze in the Team Test to Music at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games.
It was the first medal for the U.S. Paralympic Dressage Team.
And last week, Trunnell — riding her horse, Dolton — won gold in the Dressage Individual Test, Grade 1 event.
“I just wanted a nice test. It felt really good, riding with the music the whole time. The experience (at Tokyo 2020) has been really nice,” she said in the news release.
“Everyone here is so happy and friendly, making everyone in the barn happy, it’s just fun,” she said.
And the 36-year-old already has her sights on the Los Angeles 2028 Paralympic Games.
“The better we start to do, people know about us, and that makes people more aware. Competing in LA is on my schedule,” she said.
On Sunday, Trunnell had the best score among the three Team USA competitors, with a score of 80.321 percent. Altogether, Team USA scored 224.352 total points.
Her final score that earned the gold on Monday was 86.927 percent.
She entered the games as the highest ranked para dressage athlete in the world, according to the FEI Para Dressage Individual Rankings.
She also competed at the Paralympic Games in Brazil.
Trunnell grew up loving horses and was making a name for herself at dressage competitions when she developed encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain.
Later it was discovered that she suffered a stroke after contracting the H1N1 virus in 2009 when she was 23.
Trunnell was diagnosed with cerebellar ataxia, which impacts her fine motor skills.
Her family eventually moved from Washington to Texas, where she continued her therapy and rode and worked with a trainer to fulfill her childhood dream of making it to the Olympics.
This story was originally published August 30, 2021 at 12:14 PM.