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Olympic showjumper speaks out after being thrown from world's best horse

Home> News> Sport

Published 15:13 6 Aug 2024 GMT+1

Olympic showjumper speaks out after being thrown from world's best horse

Sweden’s Henrik von Eckermann was left crying after being dismounted by the number one ranked jumping horse in the world, King Edward

Tom Earnshaw

Tom Earnshaw

One of the favourites for gold in the 2024 Paris Olympics showjumping found themselves crashed out of medal contention after their horse unseated them.

Henrik von Eckermann, representing Sweden, had been riding his horse King Edward.

Going into the Paris Games, the horse was statistically the best jumping horse in the world, meaning he was in pole position to top the podium.

But Von Eckermann's dreams of getting another medal to add to the gold he bagged at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics crashed back down to Earth with an almighty bang after he was quite literally thrown to the floor by the mount.

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Unseated. (Alex Broadway/Getty Images)
Unseated. (Alex Broadway/Getty Images)

The Swede had been part way through the individual equestrian final, held at the historic Palace of Versailles, when it all went wrong after the seventh jump.

Going over two jumps, one shaped like the base of the Eiffel Tower and the other themed around clocks, Von Eckermann appeared to start losing control of King Edward with the horse veering off to the left.

The horse then continued at speed right in to signage of the official Olympic mascots where it stopped. Annoyingly for Von Eckermann, he did not stop and summersaulted over the top of the front of King Edward and the signage.

Thankfully both horse and rider were unhurt, with the Swedish gold medal hopeful saying it was the 'worst thing' that's ever happened to him.

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Henrik von Eckermann before crashing out. (Buda Mendes/Getty Images)
Henrik von Eckermann before crashing out. (Buda Mendes/Getty Images)

Explaining what happened to Sportbladet, he said: "It’s a bit unforgivable on my part... but what should I do? I’m the one who makes it up, it’s nothing more than that. It’s a shame."

Von Eckermann said he felt ‘shame' in having 'the horse I have and I’m not successful'.

On exactly why King Edward unseated him, the Olympian said it was down to the first water jump on the course.

He said: "Then we got too high a jump. In a way, we got a lot of power forward and on landing I was already heading to the right and he chooses a little to the left.

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"In this I lose my balance and it makes him wonder what is going on."

The moment Von Eckermann was unseated. (Discovery+)
The moment Von Eckermann was unseated. (Discovery+)

Von Eckermann continued: "It goes so fast. You only think when you land where the horse is going so that nothing happens to him.

"You go to the horse... that he is fine. It’s run so there’s not much to do."

He said that despite breaking a leg in previous mishaps, it was the worst moment of his career.

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"I just want to go home to my son and family," Von Eckermann added.

Commentary on social media couldn't believe what happened to the rider.

One X user wrote: "Nah this Olympics is cursed, did you guys just see what happened in the showjumping?"

While another posted: "Rise of the planet of the horses."

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Germany won gold with rider Christian Kukuk and horse Checker.

Featured Image Credit: Discovery+/Alex Broadway/Getty Images

Topics: Olympics, Social Media, Sport, Twitter

Tom Earnshaw
Tom Earnshaw

Tom joined LADbible Group in 2024, currently working as SEO Lead across all brands including LADbible, UNILAD, SPORTbible, Tyla, UNILAD Tech, and GAMINGbible. He moved to the company from Reach plc where he enjoyed spells as a content editor and senior reporter for one of the country's most-read local news brands, LancsLive. When he's not in work, Tom spends his adult life as a suffering Manchester United supporter after a childhood filled with trebles and Premier League titles. You can't have it all forever, I suppose.

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@TREarnshaw

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