Katie Umback
 2016 Australian Paralympic Team portrait | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | 20 August 1973 |
| Sport | |
| Country | Australia |
| Sport | Para-equestrian |
Katie-Marie Umback (born 20 August 1973) is an Australian para-equestrian. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
Personal
Umback was born on 20 August 1973.[1] At the age of 32, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. As a result, she underwent several years of chemotherapy and several rounds of autoimmune medications. She is partially numb in 70 per cent of her body and has diminished arm and leg strength.[2] She lives in Bega, New South Wales.[1]
Equestrian
Umback started with pony clubs at the age of five and moved to dressage at the age of seven.[1] She then moved into eventing but this ceased at the age of 18 after a serious fall on a cross country course which led to her breaking the fifth vertebra in her neck.[1] She then concentrated on dressage. After her treatment for multiple sclerosis, she returned to riding with the goal of competing at the Paralymics.[1] In 2014, as a Grade III rider she competed the CPEDI 3* in Hartpury, England. In the lead up to the 2016 Rio Paralympics, she based herself Holland so that she could compete on the European dressage circuit and undertake Paralympic qualifiers.[1]
In a 2015 interview, Umback said: “I should be totally disabled by now but I never accepted that outcome for my life, I always stayed positive in my thoughts and everything I do and have never given up on myself or my dreams and now I’m living my dreams.”[3]
At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, she rode Danish Warmblood gelding, Gronskovlunds Marquis.[1][4][5] She finished eighth in the Dressage Individual Team Test Grade III and 12th in the Individual Championship Test Grade III and was a member of the Australian Team that finished ninth in the Team Competition.[6]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g "Katie Umback". Australian Paralympic Committee website. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
- ^ "Katie Umback paralympic hopeful after success in Victoria". Bega District News. 26 January 2016. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
- ^ "Katie's Road to Rio". The Hacky Does Dressage. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
- ^ "Four named on 2016 Australian Paralympic Equestrian Team". Australian Paralympic Committee News, 28 June 2016. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
- ^ Medlicott, Jeanne (17 June 2015). "Katie Umback is riding dressage in England". Bega District News. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
- ^ "Katie Umback". Rio Paralympics Official site. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
