Dutch Olympian and 2016 Boekelo competitor Tim Lips had no intention of making a big fuss over the fact that today is his 31st birthday — even his teammates were in the dark.
But when word got out in the press room, someone devised a plan to rope Tim inside after his dressage test, whereupon he was bombarded with a Dutch rendition of “Happy Birthday” and double-cheek smooched within an inch of his life by every woman in the room.
The song is called “Lang Zal Hij Leven” (translation: “Long Shall He Live”) and ends with a charming triple cheer of “hip, hip, hip, hurrah!” I caught the tail end of it on camera.
Tim is competing two horses this week, Keyflow and Brent.
From all of us here at Eventing Nation: Happy Boekelo Birthday, Tim, and best of luck cross country tomorrow!