The Hanoverian 08|2012 - the American Hanoverian Society!
The Hanoverian 08|2012 - the American Hanoverian Society!
The Hanoverian 08|2012 - the American Hanoverian Society!
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6 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Hanoverian</strong> <strong>08|2012</strong><br />
Sport<br />
„I love my<br />
<strong>Hanoverian</strong>s!“<br />
Age and experience are on his side: Eventing legend<br />
Mark Todd will be competing for Olympic honors. He<br />
counts on a <strong>Hanoverian</strong> at his seventh Olympic<br />
Games: NZB Campino by Contendro is his number<br />
one choice.<br />
By Britta Züngel<br />
Mark Todd from New Zealand has been one of<br />
<strong>the</strong> most successful event riders for three<br />
decades. “Luckily <strong>the</strong> sport of riding is one of <strong>the</strong><br />
very few athletic avenues where age and experience<br />
are an advantage,” <strong>the</strong> 56-year old explains.<br />
He has not lost any of his ambition or energy. His<br />
bright blue lorry is his home from April to September.<br />
You must attend eventing competitions, if you<br />
want to meet him. <strong>The</strong> opportunity presents itself<br />
in Luhmühlen where he participates in a four-star<br />
competition. “I always liked Luhmühlen. First I<br />
came in 1986 with Charisma and I won,” says<br />
Mark Todd as he gets comfortable in his camping<br />
chair. He set <strong>the</strong> highest expectations for himself<br />
from <strong>the</strong> beginning of his career when he participated<br />
in Badminton in 1980 as an unknown rider<br />
NZB Campino and Mark Todd. Photo: Morgan<br />
and won and has kept to <strong>the</strong>m until now. Three<br />
victories have followed his first one in Badminton<br />
next to his five victories in Burghley. Winning gold<br />
at <strong>the</strong> Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1984 and<br />
in Seoul in 1988 makes him immortal. He won on<br />
unforgettable Charisma both times. <strong>The</strong> FEI awarded<br />
him <strong>the</strong> title “Event Rider of <strong>the</strong> 20 th Century.”<br />
He withdrew from competition after winning <strong>the</strong><br />
individual bronze medal in Sydney in 2000 to attends<br />
to <strong>the</strong> breeding and training of racehorses in<br />
New Zealand.<br />
Eight years later he made an unexpected comeback<br />
only a few months before <strong>the</strong> Olympic Games<br />
in Hong Kong and started an event barn in England.<br />
“It happened out of a party frame-of-mind,”<br />
Mark Todd says today in retrospect. And what a<br />
comeback it became: After a seventeenth place at<br />
<strong>the</strong> Olympic Games he won Badminton in 2011 for<br />
<strong>the</strong> forth time, 31 years after his first triumph - unbelievable!<br />
This makes him <strong>the</strong> oldest winner in<br />
<strong>the</strong> long history of <strong>the</strong> prestigious event. He who<br />
calls himself an Adrenalin-junky cannot escape <strong>the</strong><br />
fascination of performance sport and of <strong>the</strong> Olympic<br />
Games, “<strong>The</strong> Olympic Games still are very special<br />
to me. No matter whats sport in, <strong>the</strong> games<br />
mean for everybody something. I am as keen now<br />
as I was at my very first Olympic participation 26<br />
years ago” <strong>The</strong>se will actually be his ninth Games<br />
if you include <strong>the</strong> Moscow Games in 1980 which<br />
were boycotted and <strong>the</strong> A<strong>the</strong>ns Games in 2004<br />
where he participated as a coach.<br />
When Mark Todd returned to <strong>the</strong> sport as an active<br />
competitor in 2008 eventing underwent a revolutionary<br />
change. <strong>The</strong> structures and <strong>the</strong> dimensions<br />
of <strong>the</strong> jumps do not have much in common with<br />
<strong>the</strong> jumps and courses of <strong>the</strong> 80s and 90s. Much<br />
has been done for <strong>the</strong> safety of horse and rider; <strong>the</strong><br />
competition format has changed. “<strong>The</strong> change of<br />
<strong>the</strong> format of eventing certainly favours horses<br />
with better movements today. In earlier times one<br />
needed a brave horse; today you need a horse that<br />
will have high scores from dressage onwards,”<br />
says Mark Todd. After all one can only hope for<br />
fellow competitors to make mistakes in crosscountry<br />
and in stadium jumping as it is impossible<br />
to improve one’s own score. In earlier times Thoroughbred<br />
horses dominated this sport. German<br />
riders and horses might have won <strong>the</strong> dressage<br />
but <strong>the</strong>n <strong>the</strong>y were not fast and tough enough on<br />
<strong>the</strong> cross-country course. This has changed over<br />
<strong>the</strong> past years. “<strong>The</strong> sport is more open now. However<br />
you cannot learn <strong>the</strong> unwavering will to win;<br />
that must be part of your makeup!” Mark Todd is<br />
also drawn to Germany to look for Thoroughbred-