‘He always fights for me’: Olympic champion on the ‘most emotional day of my life’
Germany’s Christian Kukuk and Checker 47 have been crowned individual Olympic showjumping champions, having conquered the toughest track of Christian’s life, on the most emotional day of his life.
First to go in the three-strong jump-off, the combination jumped the fastest time as well as the only faultless round to secure their first senior championship medal. European champions Steve Guerdat and Dynamix De Belheme of Switzerland took silver and the Netherlands’ Maikel van der Vleuten and Beauville Z bronze, both on four faults.
“What a win!” Christian said. “It’s the most emotional day in my life, honestly, in my career.
“This is the highest you can achieve in our sport. I’m one of only a few calling myself Olympic champion, Olympic gold medallist. This is something that will stay for ever.”
Christian said he felt no pressure going into the biggest jump-off of his career.
“Honestly, there was not so much in my head!” he said. “We only had three clear rounds so I knew we had a medal, so I felt zero pressure going in. I knew it didn’t matter what happened, I had a medal, which is already a really huge thing. I really enjoyed every single moment. I went in, I told myself, ‘You will try your best like always and whatever happens you will accept it’.
“But I also knew what my horse is able to do, I knew what I am able to do. We’ve won two grands prix this year, so we are very competitive. I tried to find the balance to not over-try but still I was that quick that I knew the other two would have to take some risks.
“They had to try, and had one down. So I was the only double clear, which makes me very proud.
“I’m really happy for my horse; he really deserved this medal also. The last year, he’s been the most outstanding horse and I’m just happy that we really made it today.”
Christian said the the 14-year-old gelding, by the legendary Comme Il Faut, is very confident, but can be spooky and “shy about funny things”.
“But not in the ring; when he goes in the ring, he’s a lion,” he said. “He doesn’t care, he’s always fighting for me. It doesn’t matter which situation or fence, which wall or plank or water, he always tries his heart out for me, and that makes him special. You get the feeling he’s thinking like me, he knows these special situations, and that’s why he’s so good.”
Christian said he knew Checker 47 was something special when he first saw him as a youngster.
“I remember Ludger [Beerbaum] and I went to try him and I was the one who said ‘I really want to have this horse’,” he said. “From the first moment I had a special feeling on him and I had the feeling that he could do something special. It took a while – we always had good results, but in the last year, what he’s done, our partnership, knowing each other so well, created something special. This is the third grand prix, if we call it that, he’s won in six months. And this is just incredible.”
He added: “I have to realise that in the next days, there is probably a lot coming up for me but in this moment I’m just really, really proud and happy. Of my horse, my family, my staff, my groom, my whole team around, that all of them are here and that I can share this moment with them.
“This is also something very special because not many times you have all these people around you at Olympic Games. And I know that this is very lucky and I really will enjoy this day.”
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