Olympic gold medal-winning horse dies: ‘He was so brave and kind’
Hinrich Romeike and Marius Voigt-Logistik on the way to double gold at the 2008 Olympics.
(Image credit: Alamy Stock Photo)
Marius Voigt-Logistik, who claimed Olympic individual gold in 2008 with Germany’s Hinrich Romeike, has died at the age of 29.
The flying grey and his amateur rider, a dentist, were one of eventing’s most consistent combinations, with six consecutive championship appearances on their record.
Marius Voigt-Logistik was bred by Hans-Werner Ritters and his son Jens, a friend of Hinrich’s. The rider tried to buy him after seeing him as a young horse at a Holstein breeders’ association event, but he was too expensive for him. When Marius was subsequently sold, he ended up returning to the Ritters after his new rider fell off him twice, and Hinrich took the horse on a two-week trial. After three days, he knew he was staying.
“He was like a thoroughbred with a big head and he had a very kind character, he was always interested, always ears pricked when there was something to do,” said Hinrich, who also fell off Marius in those early days. “He was just bucking at a bird or something – I don’t think he wanted to throw me off. He’d come back sniffing, like he was apologising.”
The pair made their champi0nship debut as individuals at the Punchestown Europeans in 2003, where they were 15th. The next year they were fifth at the Athens Olympics, part of the team that lost Olympic gold in the furore over Bettina Hoy crossing the start line twice, and then 18th and team bronze medallists at the 2005 Blenheim Europeans.
Hinrich was frustrated by his 16 cross-country time-faults at that very wet championship and worked with Chris Bartle to find a way to save time. His partnership with the horse was so strong that he could ride tight lines and come to fences in a rhythm without interfering.
The pair became known as a superb combination in this phase.
Hinrich adds: “He was so brave and you could ride him into fences at high speed and he would never be spooky in the cross-country, which he would be when walking and trotting.
“There were faster horses than him, but very fast horses need a braking distance of 100 yards before the fence; with Marius, your prep point was 10 metres before the jump. Other horses went like hell, but Marius was like a good diesel engine and you didn’t have to cost speed or power in braking and accelerating.”
Marius Voigt-Logistik was fifth and a team gold medallist at the 2006 Aachen World Equestrian Games. His only championship non-completion was the year after, at the Pratoni Europeans, when he suffered a stifle injury and was withdrawn after cross-country. But he was back for the 2008 Olympics in Hong Kong, where the pair enjoyed their day of days with team and individual gold.
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