The normalization of success

In the history of individual Olympic medals, 9 show jumping riders have won 2 medals and 3 out of them have won them with the same horse: Tomasso Lecquio di Assaba with Trebeco in 1920 and 1924 and Peder Fredricson with All Inn in 2016 and 2021. The third name has been added to this list. This one, at the big event in Paris. After the one achieved in Tokyo, Maikel van der Vleuten and Beauville Z NOP added their 2nd consecutive bronze after losing another medal of the same metal in the team event by only 47 hundredths. Three days made the Dutch athlete go from disappointment to a glory already known but with very different nuances. There are situations that seem to repeat themselves... but they are never the same.

Paris 2024: It's not how you start...

"As an athlete you always want to be part of the Olympic Games, Paris was definitely my big goal for the year and for that I tried to make a good plan with Beauville." Maikel van der Vleuten measured his horse's efforts very well throughout 2024 by making him compete in only 5 international competitions and 3 Grand Prix of the highest 5* category before an Olympic event whose scenario, Versailles, impressed the Dutch rider: "It was incredible, you rarely find a place as special as that, with nature around, everything so big. They did very well, the stands could hold many spectators and the atmosphere was incredible every day, there were people from all countries cheering and experiencing it. Many compatriots travelled from Holland to support us and it was great to receive the close support of the family." Everything seemed to be looking good and, on match day 1st of competition, Maikel and Beauville Z contributed with a great round without fail to the Netherlands' qualification for the team final. But, on the decisive day, everything went wrong in a sudden and cruel twist of script: the French and Dutch tied with 7 points for the bronze, but the total time of the 3 riders of each team gave the medal to the former. "Yes, it was sad," Maikel recalls. "From my point of view, in championships like this there should always be a jump-off for the medals, those having the same points that would be the best. It was hard for us because it was our first goal, but it was especially hard for me. I had a strong knockdown on the three-pointer and that made us penalize 2 points per time. I felt guilty about the team's result because everyone did better in that round. The rest of the day wasn't great, the day after the team class I was still a bit sad but then I tried to turn the table. I thought: Beauville is in very good shape, on Tuesday I have another chance in the final and we have to try to take advantage of it. The fact that Marta, the owner of the horse, was there also encouraged me a lot."

Paris 2024: ... but how it ends

And that Tuesday came, where the top 30 of the individual qualifiers were going to fight for 3 medals on a brilliant and colossal round that did not admit the slightest weakness. Only 3 giants managed to solve all the difficulties of the class and one of them was Maikel with a Beauville Z that once again did their best and then some more in a great event. The joy of a new Olympic medal assured was evident but ephemeral because the importance of the imminent jump-off forced a maximum concentration incompatible with euphoria: "Having the medal guaranteed took a lot of pressure off me, that's the truth, that made me enter the arena with a positive feeling. If there had been four riders I would have been afraid of failing, but under those circumstances I told myself that I could take risks because there wasn't so much to lose in the end, just one metal colour. Christian Kukuk started with a very solid jump-off, so I had to take risks. I chose a distance followed by the combination; when I saw the video later I realized that I was a little far away. Beauville had already done five rounds and it was demanded too much effort. We couldn't achieve it, but it's part of the risk. I went out to win, I already had a bronze medal and I wanted to try to improve it, but it doesn't mean that this one is worth less. I felt I had the horse to do it, but a small mistake happens quickly and it is part of the risk you take in a class like that."



Getting an Olympic medal is a reason for celebrating. Under these specific circumstances, however, one wonders whether, as soon as the class is over, joy or frustration for having lost the jump-off predominates. Maikel experienced both but the second was short-lived: "Of course, the first thing I felt was sadness for losing the best medal after having it so close but then you think that you have to be very proud even if it's bronze. First, because there were only two horses in the past capable of having two Olympic medals in a row. Secondly, because in my country there was no rider who had two individual medals. And thirdly because no horse has won more than 3 individual medals in Olympic Games and FEI World Championships. In the end I thought: you always want to be better but you have to know how to enjoy happiness".

Tokyo 2021: 1st individual medal

3 years earlier, Maikel van der Vleuten was also happy, very happy: "The happiness in Tokyo was greater because it was a different situation from that one in Paris." The 2021 Olympic Games premiered an equestrian format and the individual competition preceded the team competition. That was Beauville Z's first major championship but the horse had already proven its level by winning the LGCT Grand Prix of Monte Carlo or the Longines FEI Jumping World CupTM of Casas Novas, among others. In the 2 competitions prior to the great Olympic event, the pair had shown to be at their best by being 2nd in the LGCT Grand Prix of Valkenswaard and making double zero in the Longines FEI Jumping Nations CupTM Rotterdam. Their great moment of shape was confirmed on August 4th when they managed to make one of the only 6 clear rounds in the individual final but then, unlike Paris, nothing was assured: "In Tokyo I did the fastest round so I was the last to go out to the jump-off. My father saw the others and told me where I could save time. We made a plan and it went as it had to. I reached the finish line, I saw myself third and it was unbelievable. On the other hand, in Paris there were three clear rounds and at that time being third was the worst result, it was the same as in Tokyo but the situation was different." That was Maikel's 1st individual medal at a major Championships, but it wasn't the only one he'd won. At home there were already others previously won by teams: two gold medals in FEI World Championships and FEI European Championships and a silver medal at the London Olympics: "Clearly, it's different. I like to be part of a team, work together for a goal, you are happy for each other's successes, you live it with a group of people, we help each other and that's great. But maybe an individual medal is harder because maybe there are 70 or 80 riders and only 3 are going to get one so it's super difficult, it gives you a different feeling." With the one in Paris, Maikel van der Vleuten now has 7 medals, 3 of which are individual - he also won bronze with Beauville Z at the FEI World Championships Herning 2022-, 4 team medals and 3 Olympic medals - he was silver with Verdi at the London 2012 Olympic Games-: "If I look at my Olympic medals, I see that it was also at different times in my life. In 2012 I was only 24 years old, it was my first Games and I didn't know what to expect, I went with no expectations and I saw it more as an experience. Suddenly, I saw myself with a silver medal and when I came home everyone congratulated me, not only people from the horse world but people from everywhere, and then you realize that it has a very big meaning for the world. In Tokyo I already knew what it feels to get on the podium but then you discover something new: the feeling of receiving an individual medal. Four years later, in Paris, you have much more experience than in 2012 and you see it with a different perspective. It's always special, but each time you're at a different point in your life." Achieving so many successes not only in Championships but also in major international competitions at only 36 is within the reach of very few. To achieve them, you need inborn talent, a lot of work, good horses, a good team around you and a great deal of planning work: "Organization is a very important part. If you are good at your planning, at daily work with your horse, if you are good with the important people around you and you make a good team, you will be able to achieve a lot together. It's a very difficult part but I think that, in the end, it's the one that can make the difference."

Beauville Z

Beauville Z was 8 years old when he arrived at Maikel's stable. As a colt, he always stood out for his professionalism and effectiveness, but he was not one of those spectacular and commercial horses that shine in every jump. For this reason, Gabriela Roger Ibars, who was riding with the van der Vleuten family at the time, was able to buy him at auction for one of the cheapest prices. A year later, the young Spanish rider decided to sell him. After 18 consecutive clear rounds in 7-year-old events, the horse began to stop when jumping bigger and she thought that, being such a clean horse, he needed a rider with more experience to get the most out of him. Maikel tried him, spoke to Marta Ortega, and ended up buying him: "If you asked me years ago about Beauville I wouldn't have said that he was going to achieve everything he has achieved, he was a good horse, but I wouldn't have known if he was going to be able to get here. If he has achieved it, it is because he really wanted to and we both fit in". For a horse to achieve success in high international competition, they must have skills but there is a fundamental factor that, in the case of Beauville Z, takes on a special relevance: his personality. According to his rider, "he is always in a good mood and eager to do well. He's a great fighter, when you get on the arena you feel like he wants to give it and, in the end, that's the most important thing in our sport. He has his way of doing it and over the years I have managed to learn how to support him, what points to reinforce, and he has learned how to help me. We've learned to understand each other." Beauville Z is a horse that enjoys show arenas but also when he is off it. His positive and collaborative spirit is one of the keys to his performance: "He has a very pleasant personality; I can't remember a moment when he gave up. He is always happy to go out, he never starts doing stupid things, he is a happy and friendly horse. He travels well, you can go out with him to the forest, he never causes trouble on the plane. It's important to us that now that he knows what his job is, we always keep him motivated."

Beauville Z versus Verdi TN

When Beauville Z arrived at the van der Vleuten stable in 2018, Maikel already had an extensive resume of international successes, especially with Verdi TN, with which he added 3 team medals, 6 international Grand Prix - 4 of 5*- and numerous FEI Nations CupTM. At that time, Quidam de Revel's son was 16 years old, the passing of the baton in the relay was beginning to become essential and there was "Bobby" to take it: "Both are very different horses. At the time of Verdi I was also different, I had much less experience, but the horse seemed to always be strong to give a good result to the team and get the medal. 'Bobby,' however, has many more individual medals." But the difference is not only in the results. The two respond to almost opposite, completely different horse models, to which Maikel has been able to adapt and understand without trying to modify his personality: "Verdi had a very elastic body, with him everything always seemed easy and that's why, with good management, we managed to get him to jump from the age of 7 to 18 at a top level. Beauville is very different. He is more rigid, he needs to fight more to give his best, and it is likely that this will prevent him from doing it for so long but I can't tell you how many years he has ahead. I also know that a horse like this is not easily achieved so we have to take great care of him to keep him as much as possible."

The future

Athletes cannot live from the past. Paris is already history and the future is already here. We are in the middle of the FEI World CupTM season and, just around the corner, an exciting FEI European Championship is coming up, which will also be held in Casas Novas, a place with which Maikel has a very special bond. As he himself acknowledges, with Beauville Z about to turn 15 years old, it will be very necessary to manage his efforts well to prolong a successful sports career without tarnishing. But next summer's event has connotations for him that cannot be avoided: "The fact that the FEI European Championship is in Casas Novas is a special motivation for me. Also, I don't have any individual European medals yet so I don't think there's a better place to get it. Let's see how things go because last year we decided not to compete in the FEI European Championship and leave it for the Longines Global Champions Tour but, if it is still in good shape, it would be very good to compete it next year in A Coruña". What is already much further away are the next Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028, an event that "Bobby" would arrive at the age of 18 and in which both Maikel and it would aspire to a historic milestone: to become the first rider and the first horse with 3 individual Olympic medals. A dream that, for the moment, the Dutchman prefers not to consider: "The main thing for me is to try to keep Beauville in his best shape for a few more years. He has already achieved many great things and as long as he continues to feel good and is able to maintain his level I will continue to choose him for good contests, it will be up to him. If one day I feel it becomes difficult for him to make clear rounds I won't make it a big deal. As for the Los Angeles games, he is going to be the one to tell me if it's possible or not. Everything he has given me already makes me feel grateful. He doesn't have to give me more. If that were the case, it would be great, but it's impossible to know." Already thinking about those Olympic Games and the next big international commitments, Maikel is already working with a group of young horses to look to the future with: "The stable looks good at the moment, I have some 6, 7, and 8-year-olds with talent, I know I can take them to a good level but it is the mentality of the horse that will tell me if they can reach the top. That is what makes them climb the last step, which is the most difficult. With Beauville, at that age, I wouldn't have imagined that he would go so far."

The future of riders is always linked to that of their horses and Maikel is well aware of this. At 36 years of age, he knows that he has a long way to go and many competitions to compete and win, but he is also aware that there are too many factors involved in equestrian sport to make long-term plans: "I enjoy this a lot, but to stay in high-level competition you depend on the horses you meet. The level today is so hard that it is no longer enough to ride well, you need the right horses to win and if I didn't find them I don't know if I would still be so motivated. There are so many good riders that horses make a difference. My overall goal now is to stay at the top level. There will be ups and downs and every year there will be specific goals – in the winter the FEI Jumping World CupTM, in the summer the FEI Championships – that you need to have something to fight for, but, in the end, on top of all that, there is the big goal of staying at the top. What I know for sure is that winning next year at Casas Novas would be great."
Each success achieved by Maikel van der Vleuten reflects and recalls experiences of very different life moments since those 2012 Olympic Games in which he won the first of the 7 medals he already has at home. You can't say that he has become accustomed to success because equestrian competition puts you in your place every weekend. But, with that record, he has managed to normalize it. Maikel has already made history, but he wants to continue writing it and expanding it with new challenges and that individual medal that he is missing in a FEI European Championship may be one of them. Will it be in Casas Novas?