'Everything was worth it': Moment that made Zara Tindall's Olympic medal even sweeter

The Olympic Games Paris 2024 will no doubt receive special attention from royal mother and daughter Princess Anne and Zara Tindall.

While Princess Anne made history by becoming the first member of the British royal family to compete in the Olympic Games, Anne's daughter went one step further – winning a medal at the London 2012 event.

In a touching nod, the Princess Royal, who has been president of the British Olympic Association (BOA) for more than 40 years, presented Tindall, then known by her maiden name Zara Phillips, with her medal.

READ MORE: All about Zara and Mike Tindall's three children

Zara Phillips was born May 15, 1981, to Princess Anne and her first husband, Mark Phillips.

Both her mother and father were keen equestrians who competed at the Olympics.

Her mother's appearance at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal Canada made history as she was the first member of the royal family to become an Olympian.

However, she suffered a fall from her horse, Goodwill, during the cross-country section of the three-day eventing competition, and the Great Britain team had to pull out of the event after two of their horses were injured.

Tindall's father was a reserve member of the British equestrian team for the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City.

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He was part of the British eventing team at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, which won gold, and his team won silver at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games.

He also competed individually at the Munich games but did not medal.

It is hardly surprising therefore that she would follow her parents into the sport of eventing.

Also known as three-day eventing, or horse trials, the equestrian competition sees a horse and rider compete across three disciplines; dressage, cross-country and show jumping.

Like her parents, Tindall began riding as a child but Queen Elizabeth II's granddaughter did not start to pursue it as a career until after university. By then, she had her eye on the Olympics.

READ MORE: Before marrying royalty, Princess Charlene was an Olympian

In June 2003, she announced a sponsorship deal to help cover the costs of the sport. That year she finished second in her first four-star event.

However, her hopes for a spot at the 2004 Olympics Games in Athens were dashed after her horse suffered an injury during training.

Tindall competed in the 2005 European Eventing Championship on her horse Toytown, and won individual and team gold medals.

The following year, she won a team silver medal at the FEI World Equestrian Games and an individual gold medal, making her the reigning Eventing World Champion for the next four years.

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That year she was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year – the same honour her mother received decades earlier.

Zara was chosen for the British team to take part in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games but had to pull out after Toytown was injured during training. Toytown was retired in 2011.

Tindall's Olympic dream finally came to fruition at the 2012 London Olympic Games.

She was chosen to take part in the Olympic torch relay, riding the flame into England's Cheltenham Racecourse on May 23, 2012.

When she finally took part in the Olympic Games that July, she won a silver medal with her horse High Kingdom as part of the eventing team.

In doing so, she became the first member of the royal family to win a medal at the Olympics.

Fittingly, her mother, Princess Anne, was on hand to present her daughter and the rest of the team with their medals.

The Guardian reported Tindall reflected on the moment.

"When you get one of these put around your neck, you realise everything was worth it," she said.

"It is amazing to get it from your mum. We wanted the gold, but to get an Olympic medal is incredible anyway."

Tindall followed this up with a team silver medal at the 2014 World Equestrian Games.

Zara, who had met rugby player Mike Tindall at a bar in Australia during the 2003 Rugby World Cup and married him in 2011, began competing as Zara Tindall in 2016.

She failed to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, however, she has continued to compete, including for Great Britain.

Now 43 and a mother of three children, Tindall competed in the 2023 Kentucky Three-Day Event in the US.

During an interview with People while she was there, Tindall was asked if she would like to compete at Olympic level again.

"I love riding internationally for your country, but it depends on the horse you've got and at the moment we've got so many amazing riders," she said.

"So you really have to be consistent and on top of your game to get back in there.

"But for me, riding at the top level is fantastic anyways. So if that's where it's at, that's great."

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