"A raven black day"

Olympic Games out for Lea Siegl! Horse not approved

Lea Siegl is condemned to spectate at the Olympics.

(Bild: GEPA/GEPA pictures)

Lea Siegl out of the Olympics even before the official opening: The horse Fighting Line, with which she was due to compete in the eventing competition on Saturday, did not pass the health test on Friday and is not allowed to compete. "We are all deeply upset. It's a pitch-black day for the eventing team," said eventing team manager Thomas Tesch. Siegl herself was "shocked", especially as her horse had shown no signs in the past few days.

"This came out of the blue for all of us and is actually inexplicable," said Tesch. "Perhaps Fighting Line was confused by all the cameras and people." The gelding, with whom Siegl had expected to finish in the top ten, had been completely unobjectionable in training and during the veterinary checks. "Fighting Line didn't show anything at all."

Impurities in the rhythm 
However, during the first pre-training test as part of the official conformation test on Friday in Versailles, the horse showed irregularities in the rhythm and was taken to the holding box for examination, where there were again no complaints. However, after Fighting Line went unclean again in the second pre-ride test, he was refused permission to start.

"The disappointment is huge. You prepare for the Olympic Games for four years - or even longer," explained Siegl in an ORF interview. "You work every day to ensure that everything goes according to plan on day X. When something like this happens, it's naturally disappointing and bitter."

Lea Siegl is now condemned to watch. After Fighting Line had presented himself fit until the end, "there was no reason to bring Lea Siegl's replacement horse to Versailles". Harald Ambros' horse Vitorio du Montet passed the health check without any problems. "Now we have to do everything we can to support Harald Ambros," said Tesch.

The dressage team already had to be changed on Thursday. Instead of Christian Schumach, Stefan Lehfellner, who was previously nominated as a substitute rider, will be used in the competitions starting on Tuesday.

Even before the journey to Paris, Te Quiero, Schumach's Olympic horse, was judged not to be "fit to compete" during a final veterinary check, as slight irregularities in the gait were found.