A name slipped on a list gave a worldwide echo to the American selection of show jumping for the Tokyo Olympics.
In the midst of Laura Kraut and Kent Farrington, two references of the discipline, a surname that has attracted millions of people in concert for more than 40 years: Springsteen.
Jessica of her first name, daughter of the singer, will start in 49th position of the individual event this Tuesday noon on her horse Don Juan van de Donkhoeve.
A first Olympic step for the second of the three children of the “Boss”, one of the small media attractions of these Games.
Born in the USA - sorry she was easy - and in Los Angeles to be precise, Jessica Springsteen spent her childhood in the green after the decision of her parents to leave the Californian show business for the more peaceful New Jersey, to the other. end of the United States.
“I had the chance to grow up on a large farm, explained the young woman to Parisien on the occasion of the Longines Paris Eiffel Jumping in 2018. It is my mother who gave me the love of the horse when I was very small because she herself was an excellent rider.
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"She's a rider first and foremost"
The mother, Patti Scialfa, is none other than one of the musicians of the E Street Band, the group that accompanies Bruce Springsteen on stage.
The interpreter of "Streets of Philadelphia", also passionate about horses, occasionally rides and takes his time to go see Jessica on her competitions, as in 2017 in Paris.
The trajectories sometimes cross in the other direction, as when the rocker takes her on the stage of Bercy for a few dance steps on "Dancing in the Dark" in 2012.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 16: (LR) Bruce Springsteen, Patti Scialfa and Jessica Rae Springsteen attend the "Western Stars" New York screening at Metrograph on October 16, 2019 in New York City.
Monica Schipper / Getty Images / AFP (Photo by Monica Schipper / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP) MONICA SCHIPPER
So much for the ancestry part.
“My father didn't make me famous,” explains the American, whose coach Helena Stormanns works for the team of OM owner Frank McCourt.
In the horse riding world, I am not judged by my name.
"" She's a rider above all, underlines one of her rivals at the Games, the Frenchwoman Pénélope Leprévost.
We know her name, but she is a competitor among the others.
It has quite its place here.
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A privileged relationship with his stallion
Today, her life takes place in Belgium, the country of her horse, where she has put down her suitcases to facilitate her travels around the world "because it's a bit in the middle of everything". At 29, the young girl is firmly established in her community. Already a replacement for the American team at the London Olympics, Jessica Springsteen tackles the Olympics in 14th place in the world in the ranking of show jumping riders within an ambitious team. Silver medalists behind France in Rio, the United States are among the favorites of a discipline, disputed Friday and Saturday, of which they were Olympic champions in 2004 and 2008.
But before that, Bruce's daughter attacks by the individual on her stallion.
“It embodies everything I want in a competition horse,” she says in an interview with Today.
There is so much trust in our relationship, and he's so powerful that it feels like we're doing things effortlessly.
I can really count on him.
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Tokyo may only be one of her many Olympic chances, in a discipline where she can play alongside an American Olympic champion at the Barcelona Olympics.
Jessica Springsteen is already talking about Paris 2024, but especially 2028 and Los Angeles, the first American city to host the Summer Olympics since 1996. To our dismay, Philadelphia has given up applying.
