| M.J. Tumbridge | |
| Full Name: | Mary Jane Tumbridge |
| Nationality: | Bermudian |
| Birth Date: | 12 July 1964 |
| Show-Medals: | yes |
Mary Jane "M.J." Tumbridge (born 12 July 1964) is a Bermudian equestrian.[1] [2] She competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics and the 2000 Summer Olympics.[3] She was the first sportsperson from Bermuda to win a gold medal at the Pan Am Games,[4] [5] and is considered to be the best equestrian from the country.[6]
Tumbridge was born in 1964 in Bermuda and began horse riding at the age of seven.[4] At the age of eighteen, Tumbridge moved to the United States to compete in competitions, before moving to England in 1992.[4] At the 1991 Pan American Games, Tumbridge won a silver medal, and six years later, at the 1999 Pan American Games, she won gold.[4] Also in 1999, she was named as Bermuda's Female Athlete of the Year.[4] [7]
At the Olympic Games, Tumbridge competed in the individual eventing at the 1992 Summer Olympics,[8] and the same discipline at the 2000 Summer Olympics.[9] She was also the flag bearers for Bermuda at the 2000 Olympics.[10]
At the 2000 Summer Olympics, Tumbridge rode the horse "Bermuda's Gold", the same horse she had won her gold medal at the Pan American Games a year earlier.[4] [11] However, during the Olympics, the horse broke her left hind leg, and was euthanised.[4] [12] This was the first time since the 1968 Summer Olympics that a horse had to be put down at the Olympics.[4] [13]
Following the Olympics, Tumbridge became a horse riding coach in England.[14]