Britain’s Peter Phillips is hoping to ”reignite the Olympic spirit” with a showjumping event next month.
Peter – the son of Princess Anne – is organizing the London leg of the Longines Global Champions showjumping tour in Greenwich Olympic Park from June 6-9 and hopes it will prove as popular as the Games did last summer.
He said: ”We want to reignite that Olympic spirit from last year.”
Peter, 36, is hoping the event – which he originally wanted to stage in Kensington Gardens – can help return the sport to its popularity on the 1970s and early 1980s.
He told website Sports Vibe: ”Remember when the likes of Harvey Smith and David Broome were household names and show jumping, the original, true arena sport, was on peak time TV?
”That’s what I’d like us to get back to, like it is in Europe. Staging it in Kensington Gardens may have not worked out but where better than here, with the Olympic Stadium as a backdrop, where the legacy of those amazing Games is at its strongest?
”Four days of show jumping, 280 horses, 50 of the world’s best show jumpers, as well as top British stars like Nick Skelton, Ben Maher, Michael Whittaker and Scott Brash, and live on BBC TV as well. I hope this is just the start in the sport’s return to mass popularity.”