Gary Ahuja
Times Sports
Hawley Bennett-Awad is still not sure what happened. What she does know is that it will not stop her moving forward.
Representing Canada at the London Olympic Games back in July, the 35-year-old from Langley — competing in her second Olympic Games — had just come off a personal best in the dressage and was well positioned in the eventing competition.
But all that changed in a flash during the cross-country event.
Bennett-Awad remembers clearing two fences in the event and was about to clear another when all of a sudden, the horse tumbled, throwing her to the ground, and landing on her.
“I can speculate as to what I think might have happened, but I just don’t know and that is one of the most frustrating parts, not knowing,” she said a few weeks ago, while visiting friends and family in Langley before heading back to California at the start of the month.
She lives and works in southern California, operating Hawley Bennett Eventing out of KingsWay Farms.
She was also in town teaching a clinic at Harmony Farms and then another in Merritt last month.
Bennett-Awad was knocked unconscious, suffering a concussion and a broken pelvis.
Fortunately, she was wearing a Point Two Air Jacket, or the injuries could have been much worse.
She has worn the fitted equestrian air vest for the past three years.
The vest is designed to inflate when a rider is thrown from their horse. The impact causes the vest to inflate with compressed air, and it absorbs shock, distributes pressure and helps support the rider’s spinal column, Bennett-Awad explained.
While it does not prevent injury, it can potentially lessen the injury.
Aside from the physical pain, the rest of it was disappointment.
“I was devastated,” she admitted.
“I have been to the Olympics before, but this time I thought I had a chance to do really well.
“It was a letdown for myself, my team and my country.”
In the past two years, Bennett-Awad has helped Canada win silver in team eventing at the World Equestrian Games (2010) and the Pan American Games (2011).
So a medal in London was not out of the question.
“It is frustrating; I know I could have been competitive and right up there, but that’s our sport: the highs are high and the lows are low,” she said.
What she refused to do was mope.
“It’s the sport; it is going to happen at some time,” she added.
“It was just unfortunate that I fell off at the Olympics. It would have been nice if I fell off the event before and got it out of my system, but things are going to happen.
“It is just how are you going to deal with them that is going to make you a better rider.”
One of the hardest things for her was the fact she could not do anything during her recovery, quite the departure for someone used to being up and active.
She credited her husband Gamal Awad, and her friends and family for all their support, especially the first couple of days as she lay in a London hospital.
A couple of months removed from the heartbreak, Bennett-Awad is able to see some positives.
Her misfortune on the world’s biggest stage has gained Bennett-Awad some attention.
“It is actually shocking to see how many people are following me (on Twitter),” she said.
“I guess the good thing to come out of the situation is a little bit more people are realizing about our sport and our sport is getting a little bit more press, which is great.”
And as for her future in the sport, Bennett-Awad isn’t ruling out anything.
“My theory is I am going one day at a time,” she said. “Ideally, I would love to have two or three horses qualify for the next Olympics.”