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NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 6, 2008

>From an AVA Press Release

Brno, Czech Republic - In the final day of competition at the World Vaulting Championships in Brno, Czech Republic, Team USA took home a bronze medal, while two US women placed in the top ten in the Individual competition.

Dark Side of the Moon, a composite team made up of vaulters from FACE, Mt. Eden, Woodside and Shooting Stars vaulting clubs, finished in third place, with the Germans once again taking the gold, and the Austrian team taking the silver. US team members include Megan Benjamin, Emily Hogye, Mari Inouye, Devon Maitozo, Elizabeth Osborn, Rosey Ross, and Annalise VanVranken, as well as equine partner Leonardo and longeur Lasse Kristensen of Hvejsel, Denmark. Four of the seven members, Benjamin, Maitozo, Ross and VanVranken, were members of the silver winning Team USA at the World Equestrian Games in Aachen in 2006. Ross is a three-time team medal winner, having won a bronze with Team USA/CoastLine at the 2004 World Championships in Stadl Paura, Austria in 2004. Maitozo and Benjamin are both former World Equestrian Games World Vaulting Champions (Maitozo in 1998, and Benjamin in 2006).

In the women's competition, both Woodside's Liz Osborn and Mt. Eden's Mary McCormick had strong finishes, with Osborn finishing eighth overall and McCormick finishing a very close ninth. Both vaulted on Pikkolo 19, longed by Marion Shultz of Germany. Woodside's Ali Divita was 16th. In the women's individuals, Nicola Stroh of Germany, the 2004 World Vaulting Champion and the 2006 bronze medalist, won the 2008 title, with Sissi Jarz of Austria taking the silver and Anja Barwig of Germany taking the bronze.

In the men's competition, Petr Eim of the Czech Republic pleased his country by winning their first world vaulting medal ever when he won gold. 2006 Men's World Champion Kai Vorberg, Germany, won silver and Germany's Daniel Kaiser won bronze. No US men competed in the World Championships.

FEI Vaulting Committee Head Emma Seely (Mt. Eden Vaulting Club) was there to speak on behalf of the FEI, and give out medals at both the Junior European Championships and the World Vaulting Championships.

ENDS

For more information and complete results go to: http://www.vaulting2008.com

To view video coverage of this event please go to: http://www.clipmyhorse.org links to each event are provided below.

For more information about vaulting please go to http://www.americanvaulting.org or contact: nationaloffice@americanvaulting.org

For more information about this press release please contact: Sheri Benjamin, sheri@benjaminsci.com

To watch the top 15 female technical programs:

http://www.clipmyhorse.org/index.php?view=article&catid=12%3Awm-volti-20 08&id=500198%3Asunday-senior-female-technical&option=com_content&Itemid= 19

To watch the top 15 male technical programs:

http://www.clipmyhorse.org/index.php?view=article&catid=12%3Awm-volti-20 08&id=500199%3Asunday-senior-male-technical&option=com_content&Itemid=19

To watch the top 15 final female freestyle programs (broken in two sections):

http://www.clipmyhorse.org/index.php?view=article&catid=12%3Awm-volti-20
08&id=500203%3Asunday-senior-female-free-1&option=com_content&Itemid=19

http://www.clipmyhorse.org/index.php?view=article&catid=12%3Awm-volti-20
08&id=500207%3Asunday-senior-female-free-test-final-2&option=com_content &Itemid=19

To watch the top 12 final team freestyle programs:

http://www.clipmyhorse.org/index.php?view=article&catid=12%3Awm-volti-20
08&id=500200%3Asunday-senior-teams-free-test-final&option=com_content&It emid=19

For a complete list of results for both the Junior European Championships and the World Vaulting Championships:

http://www.vaulting2008.com/vaulting/index.php?option=com_content&task=b
logsection&id=9&Itemid=30

The vision of the United States Equestrian Federation(r) is to provide leadership for equestrian sport in the United States of America by promoting the pursuit of excellence from the grassroots to the Olympic Games, based on a foundation of fair, safe competition and the welfare of its human and equine athletes.