Megan Benjamin

Megan Benjamin was an 8-year-old gymnast and ice hockey player when she inadvertently caught her first glimpse of vaulting. Out with her parents and brother on a search for hay for their new bunny cage, the family stopped at nearby Garrod Farms and Stables, home of the Mt. Eden Vaulting Club. Benjamin witnessed athletes standing and cart-wheeling on horses, and she was mesmerized. She convinced her parents to let her return to the stable for a lesson, and after just one, Benjamin was standing on a trotting horse. She was hooked.

Fast-forward to 2006. Vaulting with her horse Faronia, Benjamin headed into the 2006 season with two consecutive U.S. Gold Women’s National Championships, three A-Team National Championships and a CVI2* Saratoga win under her belt. That year, Aachen, Germany, would play host to the FEI World Equestrian Games, and Benjamin had her heart set on bringing home the Gold for the U.S. In front of a sold-out crowd, Benjamin’s wish became a reality when the U.S. F.A.M.E. team came from behind to capture the team Silver medal (the U.S. Team's best showing ever) and in the last performance of the entire competition, Benjamin clinched the Women’s Vaulting World Championship, becoming the first non-German woman in WEG’s history to win the Gold.

Following her success in 2006, the U.S. Olympic Committee named her the August Female Athlete of the Month. She was also named the USEF Equestrian of Honor and a co-recipient of the coveted Becky Grand Hart trophy. She was named to the FEI Athletes’ Committee by FEI President HRH Princess Haya of Jordan, to the USEF Youth Council, and was nominated by her peers to serve on the American Vaulting Association (AVA) Board of Directors and the USEF Vaulting Technical Committee.

After her win in 2006, Benjamin retired from vaulting to pursue dressage. She focused on her studies at Cornell University and tried her hand at being a normal college student. Although Benjamin’s retirement was meant to be permanent, it didn’t last for long. In the summer of 2008, Benjamin’s former F.A.M.E. teammate Rosalind Ross convinced her to join the Dark Side of the Moon team in their quest for another team world championship. Having taken two years off from the sport, Benjamin had to play catch up to be at the elite level of her teammates by the championship in August. Nonetheless, she made it happen. Her team won both CVIs it entered that summer, and took the Team Bronze at the World Championships in Brno, Czech Republic, vaulting on Benjamin’s horse Leonardo with lungeur Lasse Kristensen.

In the summer of 2010, Benjamin once again found individual success in vaulting, placing second at the 2010 USEF/AVA National Vaulting Championships with Sunny Boy.

Benjamin completed the 2010 season by representing the U.S. for a second time at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, finishing a credible fifth with Urfruend Rosengaard.

Benjamin paired up with Blake Dahlgren to form a Pas de Deux in 2012 nicknamed Team Blagan. In August at the USEF/AVA National Vaulting Championship, Benjamin and Dahlgren took top honors in the Pas de Deux Championship. Later that month, the pair won the Bronze medal at the 2012 FEI World Vautling Championship in the Pas de Deux championship against stiff competition

References:

http://www.usefnetwork.com/athletes/175/megan_benjamin.aspx 