Inspiration, Pioneer, Legend
Beerbaum’s tearful flight through equestrian history
7/3/2023 8:02 p.m
An era comes to an end. World-class rider Ludger Beerbaum ends his unprecedented career. Former competitors also praise the four-time Olympic champion. Many fight back tears. The 59-year-old looks back on many ups and some shoals.
Later in the evening, Ludger Beerbaum sat on a bench under the grandstand of the famous CHIO Stadium. The 40,000 people who had previously celebrated and said goodbye to the show jumper had long been home. With a glass of white wine and his children next to him, the 59-year-old ended the last day of his incomparable sports career – and finally talked shop with Marcus Ehning, who had previously won the Aachen Grand Prix.
“I’m glad that the decision has been made now,” said the relieved Beerbaum, who had hesitated and hesitated for a long time. And happily told a few anecdotes, for example about his first CHIO start “38 years ago, I was new and ran through the Soers in rubber boots”. The most successful surviving show jumper said: “I think I got a three-digit error result. At the time I never believed that I could be here for more than three decades.”
When the end of his career was announced late on Sunday afternoon, the show jumper got teary-eyed and the emotions overwhelmed him for a short time. “I was just hanging around and walking around,” he said of his struggle to make a decision. “I thought if I can still do it halfway this week and show that it’s halfway there, then it’s the right time.”
Only Hans Günter Winkler was more successful
Many of his long-time companions and competitors raved about Beerbaum. “I’ve suspected it for a few weeks,” said Ehning, who won the Grand Prix of Aachen for the third time – just as often as Beerbaum. “I’m really happy for him that he still did such laps here in Aachen and showed what kind of man he is.” The four-time Olympic champion is “very important for me and for German equestrian sport”. At the beginning of my career, he was “a great support for me,” emphasized Ehning.
“He’s a legend,” commented two-time Olympic champion McLain Ward from the USA: “An inspiration.” Rodrigo Pessoa enthused: “He is so incredible for our sport. He was my reference when I was young, a role model for me. What he has done for the sport is mega, mega.” The Brazilian Olympic champion from 2004 emphasized: “He’s really a big, big man.” Beerbaum is the world’s most successful show jumper after Hans Günter Winkler, who died in 2018. Measured by the total number of gold medals at DM, EM, WM and Olympia, he was even more successful than Winkler.
Farewell in a sea of tears
Not only Beerbaum himself shed a few tears when saying goodbye in the largest equestrian stadium in the world, Otto Becker did too. “I almost thought so,” said the struggling national coach, who won medals with Beerbaum and sometimes argued. “It’s the end of an era,” said the former world-class rider. And added: “We’ve had a lot of ups and downs together, it’s an emotional moment.”
Among the downs was losing the 2004 team gold medal in Athens, which they both clinched together. Beerbaum’s horse Goldfever was not doped, but an undeclared and therefore prohibited medication led to Beerbaum’s result being subsequently deleted. Becker, Christian Ahlmann and Marco Kutscher lost the win and received bronze as their results were enough for third place. “It’s particularly painful that the other riders also have to give up their gold medals,” said Beerbaum after going through the instances of international sports jurisdiction.