Lissa, seen here with mum and past champion Lucinda, competed at her first CCI4* at Badminton 2017
The daughter of six-time Badminton winner Lucinda Green (nee Prior-Palmer) and Australian Olympic eventing rider David Green, Lissa Green has today announced that she will in the future be riding under the Australian flag
“It has been something I've thought about since I made an initial trip back to Australia when I was 18 and fell in love with the country, but last year was a real turning point in my career and the understanding that I now needed to make a decision started to become much clearer” says 28 year old Lissa
Lissa has always been a keen rider but only decided to event professionally in 2012 after finishing her degree at Bristol University in Criminology and Forensic Science, wanting to be certain that following in her parents’ footsteps was the thing she really wanted to do; after all, they are large shoes to fill
Her mother Lucinda is a British eventing legend, an individual and team World and European Champion and Olympic silver medallist who has not only won Badminton six times on six different horses but has also won twice at Burghley. Her father, Queensland-born David, represented Australia on three Olympic and World Championship teams and was part of the gold medal winning team in Barcelona in 1992
“Mum and Dad have been right behind me in everything, ever since I made the (late) decision to ride professionally for a living” says Lissa “They've both been so supportive and are both really excited about me taking this step forward in my career. I think dad is probably doing cartwheels, as of course it means even more to him, having had a brilliant career himself under the guidance of Equestrian Australia”
Equestrian Australia (EA) is probably doing cartwheels too. Australia has many experienced Olympic riders such as Stuart Tinney, Shane Rose, Megan Jones, Sonja Johnson, Sam Griffiths and Andrew Hoy still going strong in the sport but also has real depth in its younger up and coming riders, many based on home soil. Lissa will be joining these potential future Australian eventing champions under the EA banner
“We are delighted to welcome Lissa Green to the family of Australian riders” says Chris Webb, EA High Performance Manager “With a rich heritage in top level eventing, we are excited to have Lissa representing us and look forward to watching her compete and progress under the Australian flag”
