Gillian Johnston is an American polo player and patron.
Gillian Johnston | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Polo player |
| Parent(s) | Summerfield Johnston Jr. Gil Johnston |
| Relatives | Robert Johnston (brother) Katherine Johnston Tudor (sister) Lavinia Johnston (sister) Summerfield Johnston III (brother) |
Early life edit
Gillian Johnston is the daughter of Summerfield Johnston Jr., a business executive who served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Coca-Cola Enterprises from 1991 to 2001,[1] and a polo player.[2] Her mother, Gil Johnston, is a British-born horsebreeder and steeplechaser.[3] Her paternal great-grandfather, James F. Johnston, founded the Coca-Cola Bottling Company, the first Coca-Cola franchiser.[4][5]
She grew up at Bendabout farm in McDonald in Bradley County, Tennessee.[2] Her brother, Summerfield Johnston III, died from polo-related injuries in 2007.[2][6]
Polo edit
She reestablished the Bendabout Polo Club at her family farm in the 1990s.[7] She is the patron and captain of the Coca-Cola Polo Team.[5][6][8]
She first competed in the U.S. Open Polo Championship in 1999.[9] Four years later, in 2003, they won the championship at the Royal Palm Polo Club in Boca Raton, Florida alongside Adam Snow, Miguel Novillo Astrada and Tommy Biddle.[9] She and Sunny Hale are the only women to have won this championship.[10]
In 2013, she won the Ylvisaker Cup alongside Sugar Erskine, Julio Arellano and Tommy Collingwood against Marc Ganzi's Audi team.[11][12]
She serves as the Vice President of the Polo Training Foundation.[13]
References edit
- ^ "Coca-Cola Enterprises: Cola-Cola History". Archived from the original on 2015-02-15. Retrieved 2015-02-18.
- ^ a b c Polo: Gillian Johnston, Bendabout win Ylvisaker Cup match, The Palm Beach Post, February 6, 2011
- ^ Nicole Lever, Gillian Johnston's Passion For Horses Has Never Dwindled, The Chronicle of the Horse, January 26, 2005
- ^ Local families have Coke connection, Chattanooga Free Press, February 26, 2010
- ^ a b Bob Sherwood, James Packer packs up in England after rain-sodden season, Financial Times, June 15, 2013
- ^ a b Alex Webbe, Polo's family feud, Boca Raton News, February 18, 2001
- ^ Horace A. Laffaye, The Polo Encyclopedia, Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 2004, p. 195
- ^ Horace A. Laffaye, The Polo Encyclopedia, Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 2004, p. 76
- ^ a b Horace A. Laffaye, Polo in the United States: A History, Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 2011, p. 223
- ^ Geraldine Fabrikant, On Horseback, Mallet in Hand, Breaking Barriers for Women, The New York Times, December 10, 2013
- ^ Coca-Cola wins Ylvisaker Cup, Polo Times, 26 February 2013
- ^ Sharon Robb, Horse dies after Coca-Cola’s bittersweet polo victory, Palm Beach Post, February 24, 2013
- ^ "Polo Training Foundation: Our Board". Archived from the original on 2015-01-28. Retrieved 2015-02-20.