German Olympic Team of Top Three Finishers at Aachen CDIO Freestyle
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By KENNETH J. BRADDICK
AACHEN, Germany, July 8–The three top finishers in the CDIO Grand Prix Freestyle–Helen Langehanenberg on Damon Hill NRW, Kristina Sprehe and Desperados and Dorothee Schneider and Diva Royal–were named to the German Olympic team Sunday, with Anabel Balkenhol and Dablino chosen as the individual.
Although none of the combinations have previously competed in an Olympics, Helen noted how young the squad is with her 30 years old, Kristina, 26, Dorothee, 43, and Anabel, 40, and said “we have nothing to lose. We will go to London to do our best and definitely have fun and see how it goes.”
Addressing questions about Totilas whose bombshell withdrawal because the rider, Matthias Alexander Rath, has mononucleosis, Helen said, “of course it will be different, but how it would be with Totilas I cannot predict.”
Both Desperados and Diva Royal posted personal best scores of 84.700 per cent and 81.100 per cent, respectively, in the freestyle Sunday while Damon’s winning score of 85.150 per cent was 0.064 per cent below her previous best earned as the reserve champion at the World Cup Final in April.
Meantime, Patrick van der Meer, who finished 10th on Uzzo with a score of 73.175 per cent was selected as the individual for the Netherlands Olympic squad. The team of Anky van Grunsven and Salinero, Edward Gal and Undercover and Adelinde Cornelissen and Parzival.
Helen and Damon Hill, a 12-year-old Westfalen stallion (Donnerhall x Romanze x Rubinstein I), had finished second to Desperados, an 11-year-old Hanoverian stallion (De Niro x Wie Musik x Wolkenstein II) in the Nations Cup Grand Prix and the Olympic Grand Prix Special.
The pint-sized Helen is hugely popular throughout Europe and fans who packed the 5,000-seat dressage stadium gave her a standing ovation.
At this World Equestrian Festival, which drew 366,600 paid spectators for 10 days of dressage, driving, eventing, jumping and vaulting, Kristina Sprehe competed in the Under-25 division a year ago.
She described her performances here as a “perfect weekend.”
Dorothee said that the news of going to London “still hasn’t sunk in yet.”
But the Olympics will end her ride on Diva Royal as the 10-year-old black mare (Don Frederico x Weronika x Warkant) will go to the owner as her personal mount.
Anabel Balkenhol is the daughter of Klaus Balkenhol, who was on the German gold medal teams in 1992 and 1996 and coached the United States from 2000 to 2008.
Twelve of the 14 combinations that started in the €130,000 (US$160,000) freestyle are going to the Olympics, including the entire German and Danish teams.
Germany will be looking to maintain their unprecedented record of having won dressage team gold for all eight Olympics from the 1984 Los Angeles Games, but are expected to face their biggest challenge this year from the home side of Great Britain.
Dressage at Aachen has become so popular–the final Sunday freestyle competition in 2013 is already sold out–that the show organizers have announced plans to expand the permanent stadium by up to another 1,200 seats for a total of more than 6,000 seats.
Prize money for the CDIO, CDI4* and Under-25 Division held from Wednesday through Sunday totaled €330,000 (US$414,400), by far the largest overall dressage purse in the world.
Turmoil over Hayley Beresford who competed here this week on the Australian team continuted.
Hayley filed an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, complaining of “bias” in favor of wealthier and better connected riders that led to her being passed over by selectors for the Olympic team.
She lost the appeal, but has spoken out against the selection process.
In the Nations Cup Grand Prix and the Olympic Grand Prix Special she outscored her two other team mates, cousins Lyndal and Kristy Oatley.
Lyndal on her Sandro Boy was the highest finishing Australian in both Australian selection events in Europe, but Kristy and Clive rode in only one of the shows when the pair were excused from the first event because the horse was ill.
The dispute has received news coverage around the world as have complaints from some riders over the Australian selection procedures for eventing, one of the other two Olympic disciplines.
Hayley’s reported remarks prompted the Australian national federation to issue a statement. Paul Cargill, chairman of Equestrian Australia, said the federation rejects “the false and unfounded allegations” made by Hayley.
“The dismissal of both of Beresford’s appeals necessarily confirmed that the original selections stood and recent performances outcomes are simply not able to be taken into account,” he said. “EA fully supports its dressage team, its selectors and its team officials and stands right behind them.
“We dismiss all allegations made, especially those that are unsourced and are not accompanied by anything other than a personal view of what should have been.
“Ms Beresford has had the opportunity to put her case before two appellate bodies and she has not succeeded with either.
“It is now time for our selected athletes to get on with their job and do their talking where it counts, at Greenwich Park.”
Grand Prix Freestyle results:
- Judge E : Maribel Alonso (MEX) – Judge H : Gary Rockwell (USA) – Judge C : Evi Eisenhardt (GER)
- Judge M : Jean-Michel Roudier (FRA) – Judge B : Leif Törnblad (DEN)
| RANK | HORSE – BREEDING SEX\COLOUR\BORN\SIRE X SIRE DAM\ | € | JUDGE E | JUDGE H | JUDGE C | JUDGE M | JUDGE B | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RIDER OWNER | TECHNICAL ARTISTIC | TECHNICAL ARTISTIC | TECHNICAL ARTISTIC | TECHNICAL ARTISTIC | TECHNICAL ARTISTIC | |||||
| 1 | Damon Hill NRW – WESTF S \ DarkChestnut \ 2000 \ Donnerhall x Rubinstein I | GER | 43000 | 84.25 | 80.75 | 83.75 | 82.25 | 83.50 | 85.150 | |
| Helen Langehanenberg Christian Becks | 89.00 | 85.00 | 92.00 | 86.00 | 85.00 | |||||
| 2 | Desperados 11 – HANN S \ Black \ 2001 \ De Niro x Wolkenstein II | GER | 26000 | 83.75 | 80.00 | 83.50 | 82.50 | 79.25 | 84.700 | |
| Kristina Sprehe Gestüt Sprehe GmbH | 90.00 | 87.00 | 91.00 | 88.00 | 82.00 | |||||
| 3 | Diva Royal – HANN M \ DarkBay \ 2002 \ Don Frederico Warkant | GER | 20000 | 78.00 | 75.75 | 79.75 | 78.00 | 75.50 | 81.100 | |
| Dorothee Schneider Katharina Roth | 88.00 | 83.00 | 90.00 | 83.00 | 80.00 | |||||
| 4 | Augustin OLD – OLDBG S \ Bay \ 2000 \ August der Starke x Rohdiamant | AUT | 13000 | 77.50 | 77.00 | 78.00 | 76.75 | 77.50 | 80.975 | |
| Victoria Max-Theurer Elisabeth Max-Theurer, Schloss Achleiten | 86.00 | 85.00 | 89.00 | 81.00 | 82.00 | |||||
| 5 | Digby – DWB G \ DarkBay \ 1997 \ Donnerhall x Sandro | DEN | 7000 | 78.00 | 75.50 | 76.25 | 78.00 | 73.75 | 79.750 | |
| Nathalie zu Sayn-Wittgenstein Nathalie zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, Dr. Michael Siebert, R. White | 87.00 | 82.00 | 83.00 | 83.00 | 81.00 | |||||
| 6 | Eremo del Castegno – SI G \ Bay \ 2001 \ Rohdiamant x Weltmeyer | ITA | 5000 | 78.00 | 74.50 | 77.00 | 75.50 | 71.00 | 78.500 | |
| Valentina Truppa Centro Equestre Monferrato | 85.00 | 81.00 | 83.00 | 80.00 | 80.00 | |||||
| 7 | Donnperignon – FWB G \ DarkChestnut \ 1999 \ Donnerhall x Mozart II79 | DEN | 3500 | 75.50 | 73.00 | 77.00 | 74.50 | 75.25 | 77.425 | |
| Anna Kasprzak Kasprzak Family | 81.00 | 77.00 | 84.00 | 78.00 | 79.00 | |||||
| 8 | Exquis Clearwater – DWB G \ Bay \ 1998 \ Carpaccio x Limebrand | DEN | 2000 | 71.50 | 71.00 | 73.00 | 72.75 | 70.75 | 74.400 | |
| Anne van Olst Anne van Olst, Team Exquis | 79.00 | 75.00 | 76.00 | 77.00 | 78.00 | |||||
| 9 | Toy Story – SWB G \ Bay \ 2000 \ Come Back II x Concorde | SWE | 1750 | 69.25 | 70.50 | 73.25 | 70.25 | 72.50 | 73.275 | |
| Patrik Kittel Patrik Kittel, Carol & Andrew Oately | 74.00 | 77.00 | 77.00 | 74.00 | 75.00 | |||||
| 10 | Uzzo – KWPN G \ Bay \ 2001 \ Lancet x Indoctro | NED | 1750 | 71.75 | 71.50 | 72.00 | 72.25 | 72.25 | 73.175 | |
| Patrick van der Meer Trainingsstal De hoeve | 74.00 | 74.00 | 74.00 | 75.00 | 75.00 | |||||
| 11 | Coryolano – BAY G \ Bay \ 1996 \ Coriolan x Gajus | IRL | 1750 | 71.25 | 70.00 | 72.25 | 69.25 | 69.00 | 72.575 | |
| Anna Merveldt Anna Merveldt, Christine Breitinger | 77.00 | 74.00 | 79.00 | 71.00 | 73.00 | |||||
| 12 | BMC Miciano – WESTF G \ Chestnut \ 2001 \ Medici x Dialekt | NED | 1750 | 72.00 | 69.75 | 72.50 | 72.00 | 70.25 | 72.350 | |
| Marlies van Baalen J.M.J. van Baalen-Dorresteyn, J. Hinneman | 74.00 | 72.00 | 75.00 | 74.00 | 72.00 | |||||
| 13 | Fabriano 58 – WESTF S \ Bay \ 1999 \ Florestan I x Angelo XX | AUT | 1750 | 70.75 | 68.75 | 70.75 | 68.00 | 69.25 | 71.850 | |
| Renate Voglsang Renate Voglsang | 75.00 | 74.00 | 75.00 | 73.00 | 74.00 | |||||
| 14 | Smeyers Molberg – DWB G \ Bay \ 2001 \ Michellino x Rambo | SUI | 1750 | 63.50 | 62.00 | 63.50 | 63.25 | 62.25 | 66.150 | |
| Marcela Krinke Susmelj Irene Meyer, Marcela Krinke Susmelj | 71.00 | 68.00 | 67.00 | 69.00 | 72.00 | |||||
| 15 | Hunter Douglas Toots – KWPN G \ Dark Bay \ 2000 \ Jazz x Havidoff | NED | 0.000 | |||||||
| Imke Schellekens-Bartels T. Bartels, J. Schellekens |
