Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Olympics three equestrian disciplines that took place in Hong Kong. Zara Phillips, the reigning world eventing champion and granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II, had been included in the squad until her horse, Toytown, sustained an injury, which meant she missed her second successive Olympics. Great Britain qualified three fencers for the fencing competition. Two of these came from the re-allocation of places by the Fédération Internationale d'Escrime (FIE), the governing body for Olympic fencing, after the withdrawal of other fencers. The Great Britain men's team qualified for the men's Olympic field hockey tournament after a must-win game against India in the
United States at the 2008 Summer Olympics became a major power in the Olympics from 1904 to 2000, winning 47 of 90 gold medals, but left out of the medals for the second consecutive Olympics. On July 15, 2008, the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) named the rider/horse combinations for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team. The horses were shipped to England on July 17, placed under quarantine on July 22, 2008, and shipped to Hong Kong for the Olympic Games on July 30, 2008. Before the start of the games, Heidi White-Carty and her horse Northern Spy withdrew from the U.S. eventing team because of a veterinary