Glory Days as Springsteen’s daughter takes silver
FOR once, Bruce Springsteen could not find words as his daughter Jessica helped secure silver for the USA in the team showjumping yesterday.
Gold was out of the question against a phenomenal Swedish squad but the next best grade of metal sent the Springsteen clan into meltdown. Jessica’s parents Bruce and Patti Scialfa were so euphoric when she called them at their horse farm in New Jersey, that she couldn’t make out what they were saying.
‘I FaceTimed them really quickly,’ she said, minutes after the medal ceremony. ‘They were all screaming and I don’t think we understood a word anyone was saying. I couldn’t make any of it out but I know they were all excited.’
Jessica, 29, began riding when she was four, after her parents moved to the 300-acre Stone Hill Farm in Colts Neck to raise a family away from the glare of publicity.
But the quality of her riding on an oppressively hot Tokyo night owed a lot to British show jumping royalty. Nick Skelton, who took individual gold for Team GB five years ago, was in her camp wearing a USA team shirt yesterday. He is the partner of Laura Kraut, another of the American riders.
‘He was helping me here all week. To have someone like that by your side at these championships was a huge thing,’ Jessica said. ‘It gave me a lot of confidence.’
Springsteen, by far the most junior member of the team, incurred four jump penalties on her horse Don Juan van de Donkhoeve, as did the team’s anchorman, McLain Ward.
That was enough to take the Swedes into a jump-off. Every step counted as Springsteen headed out second. ‘I didn’t quite get the angle on the wall obstacle that I wanted but my horse jumped it beautifully,’ she said.
All three Americans had clear rounds. But Swede Peder Fredricson, set a target of 40.31 seconds for gold, completed the shortened course in 39.01.
The British team sank without trace. They were ninth after two rounds, a position so irretrievable that Ben Maher decided not to put his horse Explosion W through the course.
‘It was wild,’ said Jessica. ‘Wondering if you’re going to a jump-off or not, you start to get the jitters but it was also super exciting. We all gave it our all out there.’