Former Olympic, world and European showjumping champion Jeroen Dubbeldam aims to help the Israeli team qualify for the Olympics for the first time.
Jeroen and top coach and manager Hans Horn have been appointed team manager and chef d’equipe of the Israeli showjumping team.
The Israeli equestrian federation (IEF) says the appointments represent “another significant step” in the federation’s efforts to qualify for Tokyo 2020.
“I am happy Hans and Jeroen, two world-renowned equestrian figures, share our vision and have agreed to join Israel’s Olympic effort”, said IEF chairman Ken Lalo. “Israel now has on board arguably the most decorated equestrian athlete in the world as well as one of the best chefs d’equipe, with proven experience and ability, to help lead the national team at the Olympic Games. For the first time in history, we have a group of top-ranked athletes poised to succeed at a major senior championship.
“Now is the right time to make our best effort to reach the Olympics, which is now a realistic goal for us.”
Jeroen was Olympic champion in 2000, took team and individual gold at the 2014 World Equestrian Games (WEG) and individual gold at WEG 2006. He also won team and individual European gold in 2015, and individual gold in 2007.
Hans has successfully trained the Dutch, Swedish, and Italian teams, and trained many famous and successful Dutch riders, including Jeroen.
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“We are both honoured to be called by the Israeli team and ambitious for good results,” he said.
“We don’t have a lot of time on our hands with the Olympic qualification in Moscow and FEI Europe division two competition in Bulgaria next month. We haven’t got to know all the riders, but we do know most of them, and we will see some of them during the Nations Cup in Rome this month. We hope to meet everybody soon in order to make a plan for the summer and the Europeans as well.”
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