From the inside with Thomas Borgmann by Chris Hector
Photos by Rebecca Ashton and HIPPO FOTO
Before Rio, the Germans were unbackable favorites for the eventing gold medal, so what went wrong? I thought I’d ask German journalist and eventing expert, Thomas Borgmann – who wrote the book on Michael Jung and his double Gold Medal success in London.
Thomas when we were coming to Rio, one thing seemed certain, Germany was going to win gold in the Eventing – what went wrong?
“I think the team was not tough enough. When you are hearing days before the Games, weeks before, months before, you are the team, no one can beat you – that’s a difficult situation to stay cool, and not listen to the press. You must be tough and self-critical and say, what shall I do to beat the best?”
“We started a little bit lazy with Sandra Auffarth in the dressage, then Michael Jung had a bad mistake, then the team got a little bit nervous. If you are Michael Jung and you have a mistake on a simple movement, then you will be nervous.”
“Then on the cross country, Sandra Auffarth, first rider must be on top so the whole team has a good feeling – okay today we will have success. If you start with mistakes, you have a problem. In this you should know that our national coach, Hans Melzer came to these Olympic Games with a new tactic we’d never tried before. Hans said, first day I go with my two top favorites in the competition, Sandra Auffarth, a World Champion, Michael Jung, a double gold champion from London, and then we will be so far on top that we shock the others, the others will be nervous and we stay on top. The tactic is lazy, the tactic is one side of the sport, and the reality is another.”
“At least on the showjumping day, the German team was on a high level. I said to Michael after the showjumping, Michael this is the level you had to ride on the first and second phases – and he said, yes, you are right.”
“The other thing is we had to change one rider, from Andreas Ostholt to Julia Krajewski, in the last hours before the competition started. This is a very difficult situation, for the riders, for the horses, for the whole team.”
“If you look at this whole competition for the Germans, in the end it was okay, good jumping, three rounds without mistakes. Other teams had problems because this was a very difficult track. At least we are lucky with the silver medal. You can say ‘the Germans lost the gold medal’, no – ‘the Germans won the silver medal’. The French team was the best no problem, and they are real Olympic champions.”
Ingrid Klimke and Hale Bob
“That we have a man like Michael Jung, this is a gift from the Holy Ghost. This man is an outstanding jockey, and he will be the number one in the coming years with a lot of different horses. He has three, four, five young horses. In two years at the WEG you will see Michael Jung and a top prepared horse, perhaps Takinou. But when you have a person like this, you must have the backing of a team, well prepared with fit horses. The chance to beat the Germans is always there.”
Do you think the Germans got a little bit soft because they have been riding very pretty, sweet CIC tracks and this time they found a real four star course? The toughest track since Sydney and they weren’t used to it?
“After the competition I talked with a lot of riders and I was astonished, these riders after their cross country were very critical of Pierre Michelet, they said it was too difficult, there are too many bad pictures. Everyone is happy that we have no problems with the horses, no riders in the hospital, so at the end it was okay – but this sport is under pressure, it is in danger of losing its Olympic status. So we have to work every weekend in the small competitions in your country, in my country, in America, in Britain, that the sport is in a good balance, and if we have in the next year, dead horses or dead riders, then it comes to the point of no return. I am sure the IOC will say, okay we’ve given you a lot of chances, but now it is finished, you have to go out of the Olympics. I think a lot of people within the sport don’t think this could happen, but the day will come when the IOC looks at the statistics and the results and the question is, yes or no?”