Michèle George

Michèle George (born 2 January 1974) is a Paralympic equestrian of Belgium. She won seven gold and one silver medal at the Paralympic Games.

She was named "Belgian Paralympian of the Year" twice: in 2014 and in 2022.

Early life

Michèle George was born on 2 January 1974 in Ostend, West Flanders, Belgium. She began riding horses in 1982, when she was 12 years old, starting on racehorses and then trying show jumping. She eventually met a dressage rider, tried the discipline and "fell in love with it".

Career

After a horse-riding accident happened in 2008 that caused her to have hemiplegia in her left leg, she started competing in grade IV para-dressage.

George competed at the 2009 European Championship, where she finished second. She then competed with her gelding Fbw Rainman at the 2010 World Equestrian Games, finishing second in the individual freestyle para-dressage test.

In 2012, George and Fbw Rainman participated in the London Summer Paralympics, where they won two gold medals in the individual championship and in the individual freestyle test, making her the first winner of a gold medal in para-dressage for Belgium. In the same year, she also became the first Paralympian to win the Equestrala (Belgium's equestrian of the year award).

With the same horse, she competed at the 2014 FEI World Equestrian Games, finishing first in individual para-dressage and in freestyle.

In 2016, she and Fbw Rainman won a gold medal in the individual freestyle and a silver one in the individual championship test at the Rio de Janeiro Paralympic Games.

She then went from grade IV to grade V para-dressage.

In 2021, George and her new mare Best Of 8 went to the Tokyo Paralympic Games, where they won two gold medals in the individual championship and in the freestyle test.