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Thursday, August 21, 2008

Olympic Run is an Education for Lily Chiu Zilo
By Lynndee Kemmet for DressageDaily.com

Lily Chiu Zilo may not have earned a spot as Hong Kong's dressage representative in the 2008 Equestrian Olympics, but the lessons she learned in her effort to represent her home country were priceless. "If had to do over again, I would. I'm a very goal oriented person and I always like to set goals for myself and try to achieve them," she said.

In fact Lily was one the first dressage riders to appear in the Olympic stadium. Lily Chiu Zilo was one of 120 torch bearers selected to participate in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch Relay in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Equestrian Federation had 5 representatives who carried the torch in the Hong Kong Olympic Equestrian Venue - President, Dr. Simon Ip, JP, honorary Treasurer, Mr. Michael Lee, Jumping rider, Mr. Kenneth Cheng, Dressage rider, Mrs. Lily Zilo Chiu as well as the captain of Hong Kong Para Equestrian Team, Mr. Nelson Yip.

It would not have been the first time that Zilo, based in Wellington, Florida, had represented Hong Kong internationally. She was a member of the Hong Kong Dressage Team at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar with her mare Windsor's Mira.

It was right after that event that Zilo begin thinking of the 2008 Olympics. "When the Games were over, the Chinese Federation spoke to all riders and told us that if we pursued, on our own, an interest in going to the Olympics that maybe we could represent Hong Kong," she said.

As her Asian Games mount was only capable of Prix St. Georges and Intermediaire competition, Zilo went on the hunt for a Grand Prix horse. She also linked up with American Olympian Michelle Gibson as her trainer. Zilo went horse shopping in Europe and last spring she found Stradivari 14, a 14-year-old Hanoverian gelding she purchased from Hubertus Schmidt.

As an amateur rider, Zilo said she knew she faced a big challenge in her Olympic run. "The reason we're amateurs is that we have other things in life. We have other priorities. For a professional, the first priority is riding and training the horse. But as an amateur, I have other responsibilities as a mother, homemaker, wife and then rider. Being a rider is not top priority and never has been. Being an amateur rider and trying to reach this goal was extremely challenging."

Zilo was born in Taipei. Her family later moved to Hong Kong, from where her mother is from. Zilo learned to ride while she and her husband, Alex, were living in Italy. In 2001, the Zilos moved to the U.S. and chose the Wellington, Florida as their home because of their growing equestrian interest. Aside from being busy riding, Zilo has also spent some time doing a bit of media coverage of equestrian events for Chinese media, most recently at the Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Festival of Champions in California.

Lily Gave it Her All