TOKIO, Wash. — Jessica Springsteen and the U.S. equestrian jumping team came up just short of Olympic gold, falling to Sweden in a jump off that still left the Americans with a record 10th medal in the event.
It’s the first for the 29-year-old Springsteen, the daughter of famed rockers Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa, who made her Olympic debut in Tokyo.
Riding powerful stallion Don Juan van de Donkhoeve, she clipped one rail in the primary round, as did McLain Ward, leaving the U.S in a tie with the Swedes for first with eight penalty points.
Peder Fredricson cruised to a time of 39.01 in the jump off for the country’s record fourth gold medal but first since 1924.
Springsteen learned to ride on her family's horse farm in Colts Neck, New Jersey, and she was an alternate for the London Games in 2012 but didn't participate.
She's been riding 12-year-old Don Juan van de Donkehove — he answers just fine to Don — for about two years. The duo arrived in Tokyo ranked 14th in the world.
In a sport without any household names, Springsteen has generated some rare buzz from Tokyo. Nearly all the mainstream press coverage for equestrian in the U.S. during these Games has focused on Springsteen. On the ground here, about a half dozen members of the Bruce Springsteen Japan Facebook group gathered outside the locked stadium last week to offer support.
The rider herself has been buffered tightly from the attention. U.S. Equestrian denied requests for 1-on-1 interviews with her, and questions at a news conference Monday were screened by the public relations staff to block any mention of her famous family.
Reporters in the mixed zone Tuesday were warned not to ask about her family. When a journalist began to ask about Springsteen's experiences riding as a child, a U.S. Equestrian staffer grabbed her and ushered her away.
The Boss's daughter is hardly the first famous offspring to trot an Olympic track — no surprise given the sport's significant financial barriers.
Princess Anne represented Britain in the eventing competition at the 1976 Montreal Games. Her daughter, Zara Tindall, jumped at London in 2012. Georgina Bloomberg, daughter of former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, has also jumped for Team USA but never at the Olympics.
This year's field included another billionaire relative — Egypt's Nayer Nassar is the son-in-law of Bill Gates.
"I support many athletes in the Tokyo Olympics at the moment," Gates wrote on Instagram. "But there is no athlete I support more than my son-in-law Nayel Nassar. Good luck Nayel."
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