She’s long the best female player in the world, and even longer the best female French player. Caroline Anier is one of six great women who have marked or are still marking the history of polo.
And when we say history of polo, it is not exclusively women’s polo, but polo in general – men and women alike. Because this woman of character, who started polo at the age of 14, without any means and was “raised the hard way” at the Pepito Gontier school in Sologne, became a respected rider on the world circuit. She became the best French female player when she was 19 years old.
And she has remained so, for 38 years – until the recent advent of Elena Venot! She was also the best female player in the world three years in a row from 1999 to 2002.
Caroline was recruited by many teams around the world. This includes teams from France and the United States, where she played every winter for the California season. She reached the mixed handicap of 4.
Only two women did better than her – 5-goalers Clare Tomlinson from England and Sunny Hale from the US. It was the latter who brought Caroline to the United States. Together, they won the first Women’s Open in history in 1996.
An accomplished horsewoman, Caroline is not the type to wait on the field for her horses to be brought to her tacked and ready. She shoes and transports them herself, and it goes without saying that she does not leave it to anyone else to train them.
The lady player is known for her sense of the game and her slyness on the field. She is always asked to complete mixed teams, thanks to her qualities and her experience. This allowed her to play in the high level tournaments in France such as the Coupe d’Or de Deauville or the Open de France de Chantilly.
During her long career, she has won the Eldorado League in mixed polo with an all-female team, the first edition of the Mixed French Open in 2000 with a second woman in the team – Céline Charloux, the Ladies Cup of Deauville in 2018, 2020, and 2021, six French championships including the last one in 2007, two Paris Opens (mixed), and the French Women’s Open twice, in 2015 and 2020. She was the first French woman to participate in the Argentine Open in 2016.
Caroline is very proud to call herself the Jeannie Longo – a famous French cyclist known for her longevity in her sport – of polo!
