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Equestrian Jessica Springsteen, Bruce Springsteen's Daughter, Has Made The Olympics

Jessica Springsteen riding Don Juan van de Donkhoeve competes in the Rolex Grand Prix at the Royal Windsor Horse Show, Windsor on July 4, 2021.
Steve Parsons
/
PA Images via Getty Images
Jessica Springsteen riding Don Juan van de Donkhoeve competes in the Rolex Grand Prix at the Royal Windsor Horse Show, Windsor on July 4, 2021.

Some people are born to run. Others are born to ride.

Jessica Springsteen, a champion equestrian who happens to be music icon Bruce Springsteen's daughter, is going to the Olympics.

Team USA announced on Monday that Springsteen would be one of the four athletes making up the equestrian jumping team at the Tokyo Games starting this month.

Springsteen, 29, is ranked 27th in the world and will be competing with her 12-year-old Belgian Warmblood stallion named Don Juan van de Donkhoeve, according to Team USA. It will be her first time competing at the Olympics.

Springsteen shared the news on Instagram this week, posting a photo of herself in competition and writing in the caption, "Been dreaming of this since I can remember! Endless gratitude for my team, friends and family for helping me make this a reality. We are Tokyo bound!!"

Springsteen will compete alongside two-time Olympic gold medalist McLain Ward; Laura Kraut, who's been to the Olympics twice and won a team gold in 2008; and Kent Farrington, who will be competing at the games for the second time and who is ranked No. 5 in the world.

Springsteen, who has been riding competitively since she was a child, is a globally accomplished equestrian. While it will be her first time competing at the Olympic Games, she was an alternate for the U.S. equestrian team during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, according to Sports Illustrated.

She is one of three children that Bruce Springsteen shares with his wife of 30 years, Patti Scialfa, who congratulated her daughter in an Instagram post on Tuesday.

"U.S. equestrian team for Tokyo Olympics ... - my sweet girl - happy for you ..," she wrote.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Sharon Pruitt-Young