London 2012: Zara Phillips To Jump For Glory In Greenwich Park | HuffPost

Jumping For Glory: Zara Phillips And Team Going For Gold

PA

|

Zara Phillips will jump for glory with fellow riders from Britain's eventing team on Tuesday as they reach for Team GB's first gold of the Olympics.

The Queen's granddaughter can expect a rapturous reception from the home crowd at Greenwich Park as she takes part in the showjumping finale of the tightly-fought competition, with first place still very much in sight.

That golden dream has already come true for 15-year-old swimming sensation Ruta Meilutyte after the Lithuanian schoolgirl, who lives and trains in Plymouth, last night stole the heart of her adopted country with a spectacular win in the women's 100 metres breaststroke final.

Zara Phillips will jump for glory

Her breathless victory and emotional post-race interview instantly secured her status as a darling of the London Games.

Those memorable scenes in the Aquatics Centre were played out shortly after GB's men's gymnasts wrote their own names into the Olympic history books.

Their dramatic bronze was the first British medal in the event for 100 years, and their women counterparts hope to emulate that success when they go for glory in the team gymnastics final today.

Britain hold silver medal position in the team eventing competition behind reigning European champions Germany coming into this morning's action.

The last time Team GB won an Olympic team eventing gold was in Munich 40 years, when Captain Mark Phillips - Zara's father - was a competitor.

Phillips with her horse on Tuesday

Phillips and her fellow equestrians were cheered on yesterday by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry, her cousins Beatrice and Eugenie and the Duchess of Cornwall.

Phillips, a former world champion, produced a commanding performance on her Olympics cross-country debut as the GB eventers kept their hopes of gold alive.

After her win in the pool an incredulous Meilutyte, who attends the same school as diver Tom Daley, was left almost lost for words as she tried to absorb what she had done.

"I cannot believe it," she told the BBC afterwards. "It's too much for me."

Looking at the camera and speaking in Lithuanian, she told her father in Plymouth: "Thank you. I love you."

It was a very different story for her fellow pupil at Plymouth College.

Daley and Pete Waterfield were left deflated after missing out on a podium place in the synchronised 10m platform final.

SEE ALSO:
Tessa Jowell Says Empty Seats Should Be Filled With Fans
Schoolchildren Given Front Row Seats For Free In Order To Fill Empty Spaces
Tom Daley Hits Back At 'Idiot' Twitter Troll Who Abused Him Over Dead Father
London 2012: Olympic Cauldron Extinguished

London 2012 Pictures: The Action From Day Three Of The Olympics

(01 of36)

Louis Smith of Great Britain competes on the pommel horse in the Artistic Gymnastics Men's Team final at North Greenwich Arena. (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

(02 of36)

Peter Waterfield (left) and Tom Daley of Great Britain compete in the Men's Synchronised 10m Platform Diving at the Aquatics Centre. (Clive Rose/Getty Images)

(03 of36)

Fanlong Meng of China (right) in action with Ahmed Barki of Marocco (left) during their Men's Heavy (81kg) Boxing at ExCeL. (Scott Heavey/Getty Images)

(04 of36)

China attack the Spain goal during the Women's Water Polo preliminary match between Spain and China at Water Polo Arena. (Stu Forster/Getty Images)

(05 of36)

Zoe Smith of Great Britain competes during the women's 58kg weightlifting competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)

(06 of36)

Britain's Zara Phillips riding High Kingdom competes in the Cross Country phase of the Eventing competition of the 2012 London Olympic Games at the Equestrian venue in Greenwich Park. (JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/GettyImages)

(07 of36)

Laura Robson of Great Britain smiles ahead of her Women's Singles win against Lucie Safarova of Czech Republic at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

(08 of36)

Heather Watson of Great Britain celebrates match point during the Women's Singles against Silvia Soler Espinosa of Spain at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

(09 of36)

Ugo Legrand of France reacts to losing to Hussein Hafiz of Egypt in the Men's 73kg Judo at ExCeL. (Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

(10 of36)

Great Britain's Tom Daley (left) and Peter Waterfield practice before the Men's Synchronised 10m Platform Final during day three of the 2012 Olympic Games at the Aquatics Centre, Olympic Park. (PA)

(11 of36)

Zoe Smith (left) of Great Britain is introduced alongside other competitors before participating in the Women's 58kg Weightlifting at ExCeL in London. (Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

(12 of36)

Michael Phelps of the United States competes in heat 5 of the Men's 200m Butterfly of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Aquatics Centre. (Clive Rose/Getty Images)

(13 of36)

Uzbekistan's Navruz Jurakobilov (white) competes with Nauru's Sled Dowabobo (blue) during their men's 73kg judo contest match of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the ExCel arena in London. (JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/Getty Images)

(14 of36)

Angola's Marcelina Kiala vies with an croatian player during the women's preliminaries Group A handball match Angola vs Croatia for the London 2012 Olympics Games at the Copper Box in London. (JAVIER SORIANO/AFP/Getty Images)

(15 of36)

The Great Britain Men's Eight team practices on Day 3 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at Eton Dorney in Windsor, England. (zra Shaw/Getty Images)

(16 of36)

Feliciano Lopez of Spain plays a forehand during the Men's Singles Tennis match against Dmitry Tursunov of Russian Federation at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon. (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

(17 of36)

Lenka Hajeckova from Czech Republic dives for a ball during the Beach Volleyball match against Mauritius at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

(18 of36)

Great Britain's Richard Brickell during Day One of the Skeet Qualification Round at the Royal Artillery Barracks, London. (Martin Rickett/PA)

(19 of36)

Great Britain's Hannah Miley competes in the Women's 200m Individual Medley Heats at the Aquatics Centre in the Olympic Park, London. (PA)

(20 of36)

Great Britain's Anna Watkins (right) and Katherine Grainger (left) compete in the women's double sculls heats of the rowing event during the London 2012 Olympic Games at Eton Dorney Rowing Centre. (ERIC FEFERBERG/AFP/Getty Images)

(21 of36)

China's Wang Xin plays against United States' Rena Wang at a women's singles match of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)

(22 of36)

Turkey's Gulden Kayalar Kuzubasioglu dives for the ball during a women's volleyball preliminary match against China at the 2012 Summer Olympics. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

(23 of36)

Federica Pellegrini of Italy, Missy Franklin (centre) of the United States and Veronika Popova of Russia compete in heat 3 of the Women's 200m Freestyle at the Aquatics Centre. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

(24 of36)

Julian Justus of Germany competes in Men's 10m Air Rifle qualification at The Royal Artillery Barracks in London. (Lars Baron/Getty Images)

(25 of36)

Great Britain's Daniel Williams (right) competes with Tajikistan's Rasul Boqiev in their Men's 73kg Judo bout at the ExCel North Arena 2, London, on the third day of the London 2012 Olympics. (credit:Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)

(26 of36)

Germany's Imke Duplitzer (right) faces Venezuela's Maria Martinez in a women's individual epee fencing round of 64 at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

(27 of36)

Great Britain's Caitlin McClatchey celebrates winning her heat in the Women's 200m Freestyle heats at the Aquatics Centre in the Olympic Park. (Tony Marshall/PA)

(28 of36)

India's Devi Bombayia Laisharm competes during the women's individual event between India and Greece at Lord's Cricket Ground. (JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)

(29 of36)

Manuel Minginfel off Micronesia competes during the mens 62kg weightlifting competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)

(30 of36)

Jun Mizutani of Japan returns the ball during his Men's Singles Table Tennis third round match against Elsayed Lashin of Egypt at ExCeL in London. (Feng Li/Getty Images)

(31 of36)

Ilona Burgrova (center) and Eva Viteckova (right) of Czech Republic attmpet to steal the bal from Birsel Vardarli (number 6) of Turkey during their Women's preliminary round match. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

(32 of36)

Australia's midfielder Jamie Dwyer (right) falls over South Africa's goalkeeper Erasmus Pieterse during the preliminary round men's field hockey match of the London 2012 Olympic Games between Australia and South Africa (INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP/Getty Images)

(33 of36)

The fleet at the start line of the first race of the Men's 49ers sailing on the waters off Weymouth and Portland. (PA)

(34 of36)

Great Britain's Sarah Clark after losing to France's Automne Pavia during their Women's 57kg Judo bout at the ExCel North Arena 2. (PA)

(35 of36)

Members of the Uruguayan Olympic Football team including Liverpool players Luis Suarez (second left) and Sebastian Coates (third left) run a short warm up exercise inside the Olympic Village. (John Stillwell/WPA Pool/Getty Images)

(36 of36)

Britain's Kate Walsh falls to the ground after being hit on the chin by Japan's Akane Shibata (left) during their women's hockey preliminary match at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Britain won 4-0. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

Suggest a correction

|

What's Hot

Not Checking This WiFi Setting Is Like 'Leaving Your Front Door Open' To Hackers

People Are Just Realising Why We Call Them Uppercase And Lowercase Letters, And I Had No Idea

I Always Knew I Was Different. Still, I Was Shocked To Hear My Doctor Say These 4 Words To Me.

Here's Why You Should Never Throw The Liquid On Your Yoghurt Out