Ian Millar of Perth, Ont., competed aboard Star Power in his record 10th Olympics at London. (Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
Opening day at Spruce Meadows was a fitting time and venue for the Canadian Sports Heroes Collection to unveil their latest portrait of a real Canadian sports hero Ian Millar.
Millar, from Perth, Ont., is an equestrian icon and joins a select group of Canadian athletes who have changed the face of sport in Canada. Millar is the 15th member of this stellar group of portraits.
Others include:
(See Millar's portrait on my Twitter account at @Deanna_Phelan)
The man who did painted Millar's portrait is Gordon Milne. He spoke of getting to know Millar and trying to get a feeling of who Ian is as a person. He said Millar was a man who "loves his family, loves the day to day business, believes in excellence and expects excellence from others. He is comfortable in a cowboy hat, even more than in his red jacket.
"That's what I wanted to paint. Thank you, Ian. It was a thrill to meet you and an honour to paint your portrait."
Tewksbury, an Olympic gold medallist in swimming and Canada's chef de mission at the recent London Games, said: "Ian Millar is Canada's greatest Olympian ever."
Millar set a record for Olympic team participation when he was named to Canada's show jumping team for London, marking his 10th consecutive Olympics.
Now, on to the Spruce Meadows Masters, one of the world's largest and most recognized tournaments, starting this week in Calgary.
Given that the Olympics were a month ago, many of the countries have not sent their Olympic team riders. New names, new faces and new horses will make up the teams representing the nine countries competing in the BMO Nations Cup on Saturday (Bold, 4 p.m. ET, CBCSports.ca, CBC local, 8 p.m. ET, 9 p.m. AT).
Anchoring the final day of the tournament on Sunday will be the $1-million CN International Grand Prix (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 3 p.m. ET).
Top international horses and riders will be jumping for top prize money, World Cup points and a chance to make history at Spruce Meadows.
Here is a list of the competitors:
Belgium
Ludo Phillippaerts
Oliver Phillippaerts
Francois Mathy Jr.
Niels Bruynseels
Canada
Eric Lamaze
Ian Millar
Mac Cone
Tiffany Foster
France
Roger Yves Bost
Oliver Guillon
Simon Delestre
Jerome Hurel
Germany
Christian Ahlmann
Hans-Dieter Dreher
Daniel Deuber
Philipp Weishaupt
Great Britain
Scott Brash
Robert Whitaker
Tina Fletcher
Michael Whitaker
Ireland
Shane Breen
Ajennifer Crooks
Andrew Vourns
Shane Sweetnam
Netherlands
Jur Crieling
Jeroen Dummeldam
Harrie Smolders
Leon Thijssen
Switzerland
Roland Grimm
Christina Liebherr
Alexandra Fricker
Werner Muff
United States
Leslie Howard
Brianne Goutal
Ashlee Bond
Reed Kessler
Deanna Phelan
Deanna Phelan has been involved in the Equine world all her life. She currently is the owner of the family farm...GEARY HILL STABLES in Geary, New Brunswick. Phelan is a certified Level 3 Jumping Coach. She also trains and actively competes in Quebec, Ontario and Wellington, Florida with two 8-year old jumpers. She has competed for many years and was short listed for the National Talent Squad. Phelan also began commentating on CBC's Spruce Meadows television programming in 2009. She continues to be a part of the broadcasting team in addition to covering the Equine world for CBCSports.ca. She is currently President of the New Brunswick Equestrian Association. Phelan considers herself a student of the sport who continues to work hard at becoming a better professional rider and coach. She has a BA in Public Relations from Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Nova Scotia.
