Gonda Betrix

Gonda Betrix (born 1943) is a South African female rider who has won numerous show jumping competitions over her 40-year career. She won Springbok colours and won the South African individual show jumping competition ten times. She represented South Africa at the 1992 Summer Olympics in individual show jumping.[1][2] For her riding skills she was rewarded with three sports merit awards, as well as the State Presidential Award in 1974.

Gonda Betrix (nee Butters)
Born
Gonda Joyce Butters

(1943-08-18) 18 August 1943
South Africa
NationalitySouth African
Known forShow Jumping, Equestrianism, South Africa at the 1992 Summer Olympics

Biography

Early life

Gonda Joyce Butters was born on 28 August 1943 in Cape Town, South Africa. She started riding at the age of 4, and at the age of 8 won her first under 18 Provincial show jumping competition.

At twelve she and her horse Gunga Din broke a South African high jump record with a jump of 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m). She made her international debut in the same year. She left school at 14 (grade 9) to focus on show jumping and her parents took her to the UK, where she competed and studied under Col. Ian Hume-Dudgeon, a world renowned instructor at the time.[3] In the same year, 1958, she won the South of England Championship and finished second in the British National Championship.[4]

Career

She won junior Springbok colours in 1958 (at 15 years old) and senior Springbok colours in 1962 (at 19 years old). Between 1962 and 1992 she won the South African individual show jumping competition ten times. In 1992, she participated in the Olympic Games in Barcelona on a loaned horse, Tommy 29.[2][5]

Her last major victory was in 1994 when she won the Swiss Ladies International Championship in Geneva, Switzerland.[6]

She retired in 1995 to focus on coaching.

Honours, decorations, awards and distinctions
  • South African State President's Award 1974
  • Western Cape Sport Legends Award 2017[7]

Published Books

In 1992, she wrote a part-autobiography, part training manual with Julia Attwood-Wheeler. Betrix, Gonda; Attwood-Wheeler, Julia (1992). Jumping to Success. ISBN 1868122190.

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References
  1. "Gonda Joyce BETRIX - Olympic Equestrian / Jumping - South Africa". International Olympic Committee. 18 June 2016.
  2. "Gonda Betrix Bio, Stats, and Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020.
  3. "Irish Olympian who changed riding style to cope with war injuries". The Irish Times.
  4. "Gonda Betrix - Who's Who SA". web.archive.org. 16 May 2015. Archived from the original on 16 May 2015.
  5. "Sporting Horse_Barcelona Olympic Games 1992_Sept 2010". Issuu.
  6. "Sporting Horse Magazine Dec 2013". Issuu.
  7. "Sports legends" (PDF). www.westerncape.gov.za. 2017.
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