 2016 Australian Paralympic team portrait | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Katie-Maree Umback |
| Born | 20 August 1973 |
| Sport | |
| Country | Australia |
| Sport | Para-equestrian |
| Disability class | Grade III |
Katie-Maree Umback [1] [2] (born 20 August 1973) is an Australian para-equestrian who represented her country at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
Umback was born on 20 August 1973. [3] At the age of 32, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. As a result, she underwent several years of chemotherapy and several rounds of autoimmune medications. She is partially numb in 70 per cent of her body and has diminished arm and leg strength. [4] She lives in Bega, New South Wales. [3]
Umback started with pony clubs at the age of five and moved to dressage at the age of seven. [3] She then moved into eventing but this ceased at the age of 18 after a serious fall on a cross country course which led to her breaking the fifth vertebra in her neck. [3] She then concentrated on dressage. After her treatment for multiple sclerosis, she returned to riding with the goal of competing at the Paralympics. [3] In 2014, as a Grade III rider she competed the CPEDI 3* in Hartpury, England. In the lead up to the 2016 Rio Paralympics, she based herself Holland so that she could compete on the European dressage circuit and undertake Paralympic qualifiers. [3]
In a 2015 interview, Umback said: "I should be totally disabled by now but I never accepted that outcome for my life, I always stayed positive in my thoughts and everything I do and have never given up on myself or my dreams and now I'm living my dreams." [5]
At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, she rode Danish Warmblood gelding, Gronskovlunds Marquis. [3] [6] [7] She finished eighth in the Dressage Individual Team Test Grade III and 12th in the Individual Championship Test Grade III and was a member of the Australian Team that finished ninth in the Team Competition. [8]
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