Olympic Competitor Cries During Contest After Horse Would Not Jump
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German pentathlete Annika Schleu was left in tears when her horse would not jump over any obstacles during the competition.
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Olympic Competitor Annika Schleu was set to win the gold medal before the incident.
A horse refuses to jump, costing an Olympic competitor her gold medal.
German pentathlete Annika Schleu was left in tears when her horse, Saint Boy, would not jump over any obstacles in the showjumping section of the Olympic pentathlete.
Schleu was leading the swimming and fencing sections, as all predictions pointed in the direction of her winning the Pentathlete’s gold medal.
However, the horse incident upset her chances as she received a score of 0, sending her all the way back to the 31st place out of 36.
The Olympic contester’s sorrow was insurmountable as she cried in the middle of the competition after Saint Boy refused to budge. Her reaction becomes more understandable after realizing that Schleu was competing in the same category in the 2016 Rio Olympics and finished fourth, thus closely missing out on a medal.
In Olympic events, competitors do not bring their own horses but are assigned random ones and are left with 20 minutes to bond with them. Yet Saint Boy also refused to budge in a previous competition with a different competitor, which puts in question the decision to keep the horse in the competition.
On the other hand, Schleu’s coach, Kim Raisner, was caught on camera punching the horse in an attempt to push him to jump. The action shocked many and infuriated viewers, leading the world governing body for modern pentathlon, the UIPM, to issue Kim a black card and banning her from further competing in Tokyo 2020 events.
