National coaching posts: Three Olympic champions
Warendorf (fn-press). The contracts have been signed, the mission "Paris2024" is clearly picking up speed. With Monica Theodorescu (dressage), Otto Becker (jumping) and Peter Thomsen (eventing), three Olympic champions form the trio of national coaches at the helm of the Olympic equestrian disciplines. At their side, there are new faces as well as familiar ones. While Jonny Hilberath will continue to form the successful dressage duo together with Monica Theodorescu, Otto Becker will have a new "co" in show jumping: Marcus Döring. The 47-year-old will have a dual function in the future, as he will remain with the German eventers as a special trainer for show jumping. In eventing, a new era begins with the new national coach Peter Thomsen after 20 years. He starts, besides Marcus Döring, with two new coaches at his side. Anne-Kathrin Pohlmeier succeeds Jürgen Koschel as special trainer for dressage. The Frenchman Rodolphe Scherer could be won as a cross-country specialist. There are no personnel changes in the coaching teams of para-dressage and in the non-Olympic disciplines of driving and vaulting.
"We started the search for the coaching staff for the 2024 Olympic cycle many months before the Tokyo Olympics and have now been able to bring the process to a successful conclusion. We have a top-class and very motivated coaching team together in all disciplines. The next three years until Paris can now be tackled at full throttle and we are also very well positioned in the junior sector," said Dr. Dennis Peiler, Managing Director of the German Olympic Committee for Equestrianism (DOKR).
Monica Theodorescu and Jonny Hilberath have been the successful coaching duo in dressage since 2012. Since 2016, they have won all team titles with their teams without interruption at championships such as the Olympic Games, European Championships and World Equestrian Games. In Paris, they are aiming for the ninth team title in their coaching careers. Monica Theodorescu herself knows what it is like to become Olympic champion with the team. Jonny Hilberath also collected Grand Prix victories and placings during his active career and won the bronze medal at the German Championships in 2007.
The trainer duo Hans-Heinrich Meyer zu Strohen and Caroline Roost will continue to be responsible for the young dressage riders. The U25 riders will continue to be coached by Sebastian Heinze.
Jumping: New "Co" at Otto Becker's side. Otto Becker took over as national jumping coach after the 2008 Olympic Games. In 2000, the 63-year-old himself won team gold at the Sydney Games. As a coach, he continued his career successfully, winning bronze with his teams in the recent past at the 2016 Olympic Games and the 2018 World Equestrian Games, plus a silver medal at the 2021 European Championships. Heinrich-Hermann Engemann was at his side as co-national coach until the end of 2020, before he took over as national coach of Colombia from 2021. Now a successor has been found in Marcus Döring. The Pferdewirtschaftsmeister trains riders and horses up to international class and has already presented young horses at the Bundeschampionats and the World Championships for Young Show Jumpers. Together with his wife, he runs a training stable in Espelkamp in eastern Westphalia. Döring was active for the first time in an official capacity as special trainer for show jumping for the German eventers at the 2014 World Equestrian Games in Caen/FRA.
The young show jumpers will continue to be coached by Peter Teeuwen, who will in future also be responsible for the U25 riders in addition to the juniors and young riders. Eberhard Seemann will take care of his workload. In the future, the children's coach will also increasingly take care of the Federal Young Riders Championships in show jumping. Pony jumping will remain in the hands of Karl Brocks. Karl-Heinz Streng continues to support the training of the U25 riders and Bundeswehr sports soldiers.
Varsity: New distribution of tasks in the "bush". The sparrows have been whistling it from the rooftops for months now: Peter Thomsen is succeeding Hans Melzer, who is taking well-deserved retirement at the end of the year after 20 years as national coach of the eventers. The 60-year-old Thomsen from Lindewitt near Flensburg is one of the best-known personalities in German eventing. He competed in his first European Championships as early as 1993 and went on to compete for Germany in championships a total of 14 times up to 2015 (three Olympic Games, four World Championships and seven European Championships). His greatest successes came in 2008 and 2012 when he won the team gold medal at the Olympic Games. Professionally, Peter Thomsen worked as an account manager at the logistics company DHL since 1995 and gained voluntary experience as a member of the coaching team from the end of 2019. Among other things, he was a co-trainer at the Olympic Games in Tokyo/JPN and at the European Championships in Avenches/SUI.
There are also changes in his coaching staff. Only Marcus Döring will continue to assist the eventers in jumping. In dressage, Anne-Kathrin Pohlmeier (Rethem) is following in Jürgen Koschel's footsteps. The 34-year-old already gained riding experience during her school days with riding master Hubertus Schmidt, before she completed her training as an equine trainer with Horst Rimkus from 2005. After several stations, among others in Italy, she started her own competition and training stable in 2016. She achieved international fame with the self-trained Dancier son Lordswood Dancing Diamond, who became Bundeschampion of five-year-old dressage horses in 2016 and World Champion of six-year-old dressage horses in 2017. Also new to the team is Frenchman Rodolphe Scherer from Saint-Gervais, who brings experience from numerous championships to the eventers' training. Already at the age of 20, the now 49-year-old competed for the first time in the Badminton eventing classic, took part in the Olympic Games twice (1996 and 2000) and won World Championship silver in 1998 and European Championship silver with the French team in 1995 and 2001. After six years in England, where he was a guest rider with Andrew Nicholson and Lars Sederholm, among others, he has been running his own competition and training stable in the Vendée in France since 2004.
There are also changes in eventing in the junior sector. Here, Frank Ostholt and Julia Krajewski are swapping roles. In future, Ostholt will be responsible for the juniors and young riders, while the Olympic gold medalist will look after the U25 riders and the members of the perspective group. Rüdiger Rau, who celebrated a successful debut this year with team silver at the European Championships, will remain national coach of the pony eventers. He will be supported by European Championship team silver medalist Anna Siemer.
Para dressage: closer ties to DOKR. There are no personnel changes in the supervision of the para dressage riders. For them, the proven duo Bernhard Fliegl and Rolf Grebe will remain in office and dignity in the coming years. What is new, however, is that in the future the DOKR will be mainly responsible for the Para top sport. "The German Para dressage sport is in a phase of upheaval. We have had many discussions with the German Curatorship for Therapeutic Riding and the German Disabled Sports Association. We have agreed that we want to bind the entire top sport area more closely to the DOKR in order to make better use of the synergy effects with the other DOKR disciplines. Our joint objective is clear: we want to invest properly in the next few years and lead the German para-dressage sport back to the top of the world," explained Dr. Dennis Peiler.
Vaulting and driving: No personnel changes in the coaching staff There are no changes in the non-Olympic disciplines. Ulla Ramge remains head coach, Kai Vorberg will continue to be responsible for the U18 youngsters. In driving, the head coach is still Karl-Heinz Geiger as the responsible coach for the four-in-hand (horses and ponies). The area of two-in-hand and single-in-hand is in the proven hands of Eckardt Meyer and Dieter Lauterbach takes care of the young drivers. Support in the area of pony two- and one-horse drivers is provided by Michael Swiezynski, who has been accompanying the pony driving sport since 2020.
More information about the national coaches is available here:
