| Headercolor: | green |
| Textcolor: | yellow |
| Joann Formosa | |
| Nationality: | Australian |
| Birth Date: | 19 February 1961 |
| Country: | Australia |
| Sport: | Equestrian |
Joann Formosa, (born 19 February 1961) is an Australian Para-equestrian, who won a gold medal at the 2012 London Paralympics.
Joann Helen Formosa was born on 19 February 1961,[1] and is from Broadford[1] in central Victoria.[2] She attended university, where she studied art.[1]
Formosa has spinal cord and nerve damage, caused by an accident following an attempt to open a gate while she was riding a horse.[1] She can walk with the aid of crutches,[3] though she is not self-sufficient, and requires assistance from nursing staff at Mitchell Community Health Services. She has severe allergies to substances including horse feed and hay.[4]
Formosa started competing in equestrian in 1980.[1] Before her accident, she competed in dressage and show jumping events.[5] She helped found Kilmore Adult Riding Club, the first adult pony club in her region.[5] Formosa is a Grade 1B equestrian dressage competitor.[1] [3] As a competitor in this class, she is required to perform a "dressage test involving medium to collected walk, a quarter walk pirouette and a long rein walk, as well as working trot and lengthening in the trot."[3] She competes without stirrups as she does not have enough leg control to justify them.[5] She has been coached by Manuela McLeans since 2011.[5] [6] She is a member of Riding for the Disabled Victoria,[7] and is based at the Australian Equine Behaviour Centre at Clonbinane., she has a scholarship with the Victorian Institute of Sport.[8]
At the 2006 Victorian State Dressage Championships, Formosa finished first in the Grade 1B event while riding Greenhill Chromes Reflection.[9] She competed in the 2006 World Equestrian Games, where she made her national team debut and competed in her first competition outside Australia.[1] After returning from this competition, Formosa had an accident while riding her horse.[1] She was a member of Australia's 2009 National High Performance Squad.[10] In 2009, she competed in the Australian Masters Game.[11] She finished first in the 2011 National Championship in the Grade 1B category.[1] [12] At the Victorian-hosted 2011 Oceania Championships, she won two gold medals.[1] At the 2012 London Paralympics, she won a gold medal in the Mixed Dressage - Championship grade Ib event.[13] She qualified on Worldwide PB, a "former Wanganui-owned Hanoverian stallion" that she acquired in December 2011.[2] [3]
In November 2013, Formosa was awarded the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) Against All Odds award.[14] She was awarded an Order of Australia Medal in the 2014 Australia Day Honours "for service to sport as a Gold Medallist at the London 2012 Paralympic Games."[15]