last updated on December 15, 2009 12:54

Respected para equestrian dressage judge and trainer Jane Goldsmith was recently welcomed to the elite level of international sport when she was upgraded to FEI 5* judge status. Goldsmith becomes one of only 15 para dressage ‘O’ judges worldwide and is the fourth Britain to achieve this status. The accolade is the highest level of judge classification available and the appointment helps to reinforce the dominance of GB in para equestrian dressage.

Despite only beginning her judging career in 2005 Goldsmith has risen to the top in a relatively short amount of time making her achievement all the more impressive. Along with her skills as a trainer and technical delegate she aims to use her qualifications to assist in the education of judges as well as to officiate. The promotion has implications beyond judging and Jane hopes to be able to feed information back in to the sport, helping GB to keep well informed and so uphold our status as the best Para dressage nation in the world.

“I’m surprised and flattered” said a delighted Jane “I never set out to become an ‘O’ judge yet here I am - it’s great news from a British point of view. Internationally the standard is rising all the time, the German’s are pushing us very hard so everything we can do to keep the edge is a good thing. It would be very special to judge in London at the 2012 Paralympics but I’d love to be involved in any way, I’ll go with the flow.”

“This achievement is more than deserved” commented British Dressage Chief Executive Amanda Bond “Jane has been a leading figure in para equestrian dressage not only in the UK but worldwide and she will be a tremendous asset to the FEI”.