Gillian Johnston (polo player)

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]

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]