Page 22 - FIS World November 2016

© Astrid Appels from Eurodressage
A Golden Summer
From Bad Homburg to Brazil: An FIS Family Goes to Rio
Sönke and his horse Cosmo at the 2016 Olympics in Rio
For the Rothenbergers – an FIS family of champion horseback riders – the summer of 2016 was a
golden one as Sönke, Class of 2013, and sisters Sanneke ’11, and Semmieke ‘17, all won gold medals in competitive dressage events ranging from the European Championships and Junior Championships, to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Their cousin, Nadine Krause ’17 also won rst place in both freestyle and individual competitions in her division in France in April.
At age 21, Sönke and his horse Cosmo, age 9, were the youngest combination ever to win gold in dressage at the Olympics. In fact, Cosmo was the youngest of 65 horses at the 2016 Olympics, which will allow him (and Sönke) to compete in the Olympics again. His parents, Sven and Gonnelien Rothenberger, won silver medals as part of the Dutch National Dressage Team at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
Asked how they got Cosmo to Rio, Sönke’s father con ded that getting him from Bad Homburg to Brazil and back was the part he was most concerned about. Transportation was organized by the German Olympic Committee and Cosmo was one of 36 horses on board a plane for the 11-hour ight. During transit, the horses are individually secured to their spot for safety; Cosmo was relaxed and even slept a bit during the ight.
The Rothenberger children grew up on their horse farm in Bad Homburg and attended FIS. Sönke graduated from FIS in 2013 with an International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma. Asked how he was able to combine his studies with the rigors of competitive riding, he said that as long as he informed the school in advance of competition dates, he was permitted to complete assignments and take tests early (or reschedule). This exibility allowed him to gain valuable experience at a young age and he is convinced that he
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