- Rejection and disqualification: Another equestrian drama in the five-a-side match
Three years after the scandal in Tokyo, the German pentathletes experienced another major riding disappointment at the Olympic Games in Paris. Annika Zillekens nearly fell off her horse, Arezzo de Riverland, in the semi-finals, and afterwards the horse refused to jump an obstacle. With the resulting point deductions, the Berlin native now has little chance of reaching the final of the Modern Pentathlon on Sunday.
In 2021 in Tokyo, her horse completely refused to cooperate - the scenes of her desperately striking it with her whip went viral and caused great outrage.
Things went even worse for her teammate Rebecca Langrehr. She fell while warming up for her competition on a side arena, but fortunately wasn't seriously injured. However, she was disqualified from the riding event by the jury. A German protest was rejected, as confirmed by sports director Susanne Wiedemann to the German Press Agency. Although Langrehr went on to compete in the second event, fencing, she now has virtually no chance of qualifying for the final due to the zero points from riding.
Despite the past struggles during the Olympic Games in Tokyo, where her horse refused to cooperate and she faced disqualification in riding, Annika Zillekens and her teammate Rebecca Langrehr were hoping for better outcomes in the Olympic Games in Paris. Regrettably, Zillekens encountered another riding challenge, nearly falling off her horse and experiencing point deductions, significantly impacting her chances in the Modern Pentathlon final.
