Blow to German Olympic showjumping team
The German Olympic showjumping team will now include Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum and Bella Donna after Philipp Weishaupt’s horse Monte Bellini suffered a fever and infection late last week.
Mr Weishaupt was competing at Hickstead when he heard, on Friday, that the 10-year-old Westphalian stallion would not be travelling to London.
In a statement, German chef d’equipe Otto Becker said: “I am very sorry for Philipp, he and the stallion presented themselves really well over the whole season and Philipp was so happy about his first Olympic Games.”
Michaels-Beerbaum and Bella Donna were named as reserves for the team after finishing third behind Michael Whitaker in the Aachen Grand Prix.
Now Thomas Voss and Carinjo move into the reserve slot.
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A self-confessed newshound, farmer’s daughter and journalist of many years' experience, Charlotte worked on regional papers before joining H&H in 2007. A regular rider, she visited Ireland in 2010 to investigate the fate of Irish horses through the recession, to much acclaim, and reported from the FEI General Assembly in Rio de Janeiro in 2011. She left Horse & Hound in March 2013.