# Virginia Elliott > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Virginia_Elliott > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Virginia_Elliott.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Elliott > Source revision: 1349099393 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) British equestrian Virginia Elliott Medal record Equestrian Representing Great Britain Olympic Games 1984 Los Angeles Team eventing 1988 Seoul Team eventing 1984 Los Angeles Individual eventing 1988 Seoul Individual eventing World Championships 1982 Luhmühlen Team eventing 1986 Gawler Individual eventing 1986 Gawler Team eventing 1990 Stockholm Team eventing European Championships 1981 Horsens Team eventing 1985 Burghley Individual eventing 1985 Burghley Team eventing 1987 Luhmühlen Individual eventing 1987 Luhmuhlen Team eventing 1989 Burghley Individual eventing 1989 Burghley Team eventing 1983 Frauenfeld Team eventing **Virginia Helen Antoinette Elliott** [MBE](/source/Order_of_the_British_Empire) (née **Holgate**, formerly **Leng**; born 1 February 1955[1]), sometimes known as **Ginny Leng**, is a [British](/source/Great_Britain) [equestrian](/source/Equestrianism) competitor who competed in [eventing](/source/Eventing). She is the 1986 [World Champion](/source/Eventing_World_Championship) and three-time Individual [European Champion](/source/European_Eventing_Championship) (1985, 1987, 1989). She also won two World team golds (1982 and 1986) and four European team golds (1981, 1985–89). A four-time [Olympic medallist](/source/List_of_Olympic_medalists_in_equestrian), she won Individual bronze and team silver in both 1984 and 1988. From 2008 to 2013, she was the manager of the Irish eventing team. She was appointed [Member of the Order of the British Empire](/source/Member_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire) (MBE) in the [1986 Birthday Honours](/source/1986_Birthday_Honours) "for services to Riding."[2] ## Major wins/ Significant Horses World and European titles: - 1985 European champion – [Priceless](/source/Priceless_(horse)) - 1986 World champion – Priceless - 1987 European champion – Night Cap II - 1989 European champion – Master Craftsman [Badminton Horse Trials](/source/Badminton_Horse_Trials): - 1985 – Priceless, - 1989 – Master Craftsman, - 1993 – Welton Houdini [Burghley Horse Trials](/source/Burghley_Horse_Trials): - 1983 – Priceless, - 1984 – Night Cap II, - 1985 – Priceless, - 1986 – [Murphy Himself](/source/Murphy_Himself) - 1989 – Master Craftsman (first person to win Burghley five times) - HORSES - Priceless - Night cap - Murphy Himself - Master Craftsman - Dubbonet - Ballyhack - Griffin - Welton Houdini ## Personal life Born Virginia Holgate and raised in [Malta](/source/Malta), she married Hamish Leng in 1985. The couple divorced in 1989. In 1993, she married Michael Elliott. Her horses Night Cap II and [Priceless](/source/Priceless_(horse)), were by the eventing stallion [Ben Faerie](/source/Ben_Faerie). Since the 1980s, she has written several books.[3] In 1987, she participated in [Prince Edward](/source/Prince_Edward%2C_Duke_of_Edinburgh)'s charity television special *[The Grand Knockout Tournament](/source/The_Grand_Knockout_Tournament)*. ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [sports-reference.com bio](https://web.archive.org/web/20200417232548/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ho/virginia-holgate-leng-1.html) Accessed 30 October 2008 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** United Kingdom list: ["No. 50551"](https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/50551/supplement/13). *[The London Gazette](/source/The_London_Gazette)* (Supplement). 13 June 1986. p. 13. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** British Library v t e European equestrian champions in individual eventing 1953: Laurence Rook (GBR) 1954: Bertie Hill (GBR) 1955: Frank Weldon (GBR) 1957: Sheila Willcox (GBR) 1959: Hans Schwarzenbach (SUI) 1962: James Templer (GBR) 1965: Marian Babirecki (POL) 1967: Eddie Boylan (IRL) 1969: Mary Gordon-Watson (GBR) 1971: The Princess Anne (GBR) 1973: Aleksandr Yevdokimov (URS) 1975: Lucinda Prior-Palmer (GBR) 1977: Lucinda Prior-Palmer (GBR) 1979: Nils Haagensen (DEN) 1981: Hansueli Schmutz (SUI) 1983: Rachel Bayliss (GBR) 1985: Virginia Holgate (GBR) 1987: Virginia Leng (GBR) 1989: Virginia Leng (GBR) 1991: Ian Stark (GBR) 1993: Jean-Lou Bigot (FRA) 1995: Lucy Thompson (IRL) 1997: Bettina Hoy (GER) 1999: Pippa Funnell (GBR) 2001: Pippa Funnell (GBR) 2003: Nicolas Touzaint (FRA) 2005: Zara Phillips (GBR) 2007: Nicolas Touzaint (FRA) 2009: Kristina Cook (GBR) 2011: Michael Jung (GER) 2013: Michael Jung (GER) 2015: Michael Jung (GER) 2017: Ingrid Klimke (GER) 2019: Ingrid Klimke (GER) 2021: Nicola Wilson (GBR) 2023: Ros Canter (GBR) 2025: Laura Collett (GBR) v t e European equestrian champions in team eventing 1953: Great Britain: (Weldon, Hindley, Hill) 1954: Great Britain: (Hill, Weldon, Rook, Mason) 1955: Great Britain: (Weldon, Hill, Rook, Mason) 1957: Great Britain: (Willcox, Marsh, Allhusen, Tatham-Warter) 1959: West Germany: (Lütke-Westhüs, Pohlmann, Dehning, Klimke) 1962: Soviet Union: (Gazyumov, Deyev, Baklyshkin, Mursalimov) 1965: Soviet Union: (Gorelkin, Mursalimov, Yevdokimov, Baklyshkin) 1967: Great Britain: (Whitely, Allhusen, Jones, Meade) 1969: Great Britain: (Walker, Allhusen, Hely-Hutchinson, Jones) 1971: Great Britain: (West, Meade, Gordon-Watson, Phillips) 1973: West Germany: (Blöcker, Mergler, Karsten, Klugmann) 1975: Soviet Union: (Gornushko, Kalinin, Lanyugin, Tishkin) 1977: Great Britain: (Prior-Palmer, Holderness-Roddam, Collins, Strachan) 1979: Ireland: (Watson, Foster, Lillingston, Cantillon) 1981: Great Britain: (Purbrick, Benson, Meade, Holgate) 1983: Sweden: (Persson, Breisner, Ingvarsson, Ullsten) 1985: Great Britain: (Holgate, Clarke, Stark, Green) 1987: Great Britain: (Leng, Stark, Hunt, Green) 1989: Great Britain: (Powell, Stark, Leng, Clarke-Sutherland) 1991: Great Britain: (Stark, Walker, Straker, Thomson) 1993: Sweden: (Christensson, Bergendorff, Duvander, Hermann) 1995: Great Britain: (Bathe, Gifford, Fox-Pitt, King) 1997: Great Britain: (Bartle, Stark, King, Fox-Pitt) 1999: Great Britain: (Gifford, Brakewell, Stark, Funnell) 2001: Great Britain: (Law, Brakewell, Fox-Pitt, Funnell) 2003: Great Britain: (Brakewell, Fox-Pitt, Law, Funnell) 2005: Great Britain: (Phillips, Fox-Pitt, Brakewell, Law) 2007: Great Britain: (Townend, Dick, Phillips, King) 2009: Great Britain: (Cook, Fox-Pitt, Wilson, Townend) 2011: Germany: (Jung, Auffarth, Klimke, Dibowski) 2013: Germany: (Jung, Klimke, Schrade, Dibowski) 2015: Germany: (Jung, Auffarth, Klimke, Schrade) 2017: Great Britain: (Cook, Wilson, Canter, Townend) 2019: Germany: (Klimke, Jung, Dibowski, Rüder) 2021: Great Britain: (Wilson, March, King, Canter) 2023: Great Britain: (Collett, Ingham, King, Canter) 2025: Germany: (Lübbeke, Hansen-Hotopp, Robiné, Jung) Authority control databases ISNI VIAF This article about a United Kingdom Olympic medallist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information. - [v](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:UK-Olympic-medalist-stub) - [t](/source/Template_talk%3AUK-Olympic-medalist-stub) - [e](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:UK-Olympic-medalist-stub) This biographical article related to British equestrianism is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information. - [v](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:UK-equestrian-bio-stub) - [t](/source/Template_talk%3AUK-equestrian-bio-stub) - [e](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:UK-equestrian-bio-stub) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Virginia Elliott](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Elliott) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Elliott?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.