West Dorset equestrian coach Jabeena Maslin MBE has been nominated for the Coach Award at the PLx Awards on 28th November 2023, hosted by UK Sport and sponsored by the National Lottery.
The award recognises a current coach who has challenged themselves to achieve exceptional and inspiring performances in the last year. Jabeena has been nominated for her outstanding work with Great Britain’s modern pentathlon team.
Beaminster based Jabeena, 78, has been the British national team’s riding coach for the last eight Olympic cycles, with the Paris 2024 Olympic Games set to be her ninth, and final, outing with the team. Her achievements throughout her career, driving multiple Team GB medals, have led her to be recognised on the shortlist for this year’s PLx Awards.
Commenting on her nomination, Jabeena said: “I've done it for a fair few years now. I’ve been a riding coach for Pentathlon GB since 1976, it’s quite frightening really. It’s been a wonderful experience and being nominated for this award is most exciting.”
Jon Pett, Pentathlon GB’s performance director, said: “After all these years, Jabeena’s enthusiasm for the sport still shines through and inspires the modern pentathlon team day-in-day out. Her spirit and character endears her to UK Sport’s criteria for this award to celebrate a true character within the high-performance sector.
"Jabeena has been our riding coach for the pentathlon programme for the best part of nine Olympic cycles. A phenomenal achievement, something that will probably never be overtaken."
Joe Choong MBE, Modern Pentahlete, said: "She has taught me from someone who didn't know the difference between the reins and the saddle to Olympic champion."
Charlie Brown, Modern Pentathlete, added: "What Jabeena does so well is her ability to be honest and straight to the point, which can bring many smiles to athletes' faces in the way she does that."
The PLx awards are a celebration of the outstanding achievements of those who contribute to making extraordinary sporting moments happen. It is the annual coming together of the Olympic and Paralympic high performance community and will take place in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Seven award winners from across the elite high-performance sector across Olympic and Paralympic sport will be celebrated by their peers. Jabeena, who was awarded an MBE last year for services to modern pentathlon and has an equestrian centre in Beaminster, is cited by many as one of the key factors in Great Britain’s success in the sport.
Since UK Sport National Lottery funding began, Jabeena has worked with athletes and other coaches to build the team into a dominant force in the international sporting landscape.
Since the 2000 Olympics, Team GB have seen medal success at every Games apart from Rio 2016.
At Tokyo 2020, Joe Choong and Kate French took home gold medals and both praised Jabeena Maslin’s role in getting them to the top step.
To find out more about the PLx Awards see: www.uksport.gov.uk