Michael Jung in today's medal ceremony. Screenshot from FEI TV.
Michael Jung made history last year when he became the first rider in eventing history to consecutively hold Olympic, European and World titles. And he made history again today in Malmö when he won his fourth consecutive gold medal at the European Championships, becoming the only rider to in the sport’s history to win four golds in a row. Friend of EN John Kyle spoke about this historic achievement in FEI TV’s video wrap-up of the day, which you can view below. When asked about his performance today, Michael said, “I have a really good horse for the future. That’s the best thing about it.” If I can read between the lines, Michael is casually telling us he doesn’t plan to end his gold-medal winning streak anytime soon.
Pippa Roome, Horse & Hound’s eventing editor and self-professed eventing trivia guru (and John Kyle’s lovely fiancee!), dug through past championship results yesterday for a report on Michael’s chance to make history. According to Pippa’s research, only Ginny Elliot has come close to matching Michael’s dominance on a championship stage, as she won three consecutive European Championship golds in the 1980s. As Pippa wisely noted, championship victories aren’t the only indicator of prowess at the highest level of the sport — and we certainly can’t count out achievements like William Fox-Pitt’s 50 three-day event victories and Andrew Nicholson’s recent string of four-star wins — but we certainly can say with confidence that Michael Jung has firmly staked his place in eventing history.
