With 10,000 people packing the stands at a huge arena in Aachen, Germany, Rosey Ross of Woodside and her team of vaulters — acrobats on horseback — stood on the podium and accepted the silver medals at the World Equestrian Games.
“It was an amazing feeling to stand on the podium. It was the most exciting thing that ever happened in my life,” says Ross, 16, about winning the team silver last summer. “And it showed that the U.S. is a force to be reckoned with.”
It not that Ross hasn’t won major competitions before. Her team won the bronze in 2004 at the World Vaulting Championships in Stadl Paura, Austria; and she took first place at the international vaulting competition in Munich in July 2006.
But the Aachen games in August were different. They treated the audience to a very tight race between teams from the U.S., Germany and Austria. Ross’s team, called the “U.S. Free Artist Mt. Eden,” or F.A.M.E., missed beating Germany for the gold by only two one-hundredths of a point.
Two other local women competed at the World Equestrian Games.
Elizabeth Osborn of Menlo Park ranks second in the U.S. as an individual vaulter. Her coach, Isabelle Parker, says Osborn is the “most talented vaulter I’ve ever seen.” She notes that Osborn competed well in Aachen, but that “her horse destroyed her score.”
Mary McCormick of Woodside also competed in Aachen as an individual vaulter, and ranks No. 3 in the U.S.
‘New direction’
Ross’s team prepared well for the August event in Aachen. “The routine was like a dance rather than just gymnastics,” says Ross. “We tried to take vaulting in a new direction. The routine was elegant, well put together, and included gymnastics, dance, choreography and theater.”
For music, they used a Brahms symphony and some classical hip hop.
Judges used several measures to pick the winner: degree of difficulty, composition, performance, and the behavior of the horse.
In the first round, every team did the same compulsory exercise. The second round was freestyle, when each team performed its own routine. At that point, judges rated the top 12 teams. Then, the finalists engaged in their freestyle routines again before the final decision.
She was and still is a “flier,” a smaller person the “base” members hold up in the air. “It’s more fun than being base,” she says.
Ross also vaults as an individual, and that is the direction she wants to go.
“Being on a team requires a huge commitment,” she says. “Last year, we practiced three to four weekends per month, plus holidays.”
A junior in high school, she takes dance and gymnastics on the side. “I want to stay a vaulter through college,” she adds.
She’s been vaulting since she was 4 years old. By 9 she was on a “good team that went to Germany to compete,” she says. Ross has competed internationally ever since.
