After Swiss dressage rider Silvia Iklé and the Swiss Federation announced their decision not to send a team to the 2008 Olympics in Hong Kong (see Jan. 18, p. 116), the top Swiss show jumper, Markus Fuchs, has followed in their footsteps.
Fuchs, the 2001 FEI World Cup Show Jumping Champion who currently stands third in the Rolex FEI World Rankings, announced he has no plans to attend the Olympics.
“I think Switzerland has enough good young riders that they can do well without me in the team,” he said. “But, if there would be no team at all just because of my renouncement, in that case I would be at the disposal of the Swiss Federation.”
Fuchs, 52, was considered one of the favorites in the 2004 Athens Olympics with Tinka’s Boy, but he didn’t fulfil expectations there.
“At Athens I got five years older,” said Fuchs, the 2000 Sydney Olympic team silver medalist, who admitted that he doesn’t have the competitive coolness in championships, exhibited by riders like Germany’s Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum.
After he produced the worst score for his bronze-medal Swiss team at the 2005 European Championships, Fuchs also declined to participate in the 2006 World Equestrian Games (Germany) and the 2007 European Championships. Instead, he made news by swimming across Lake Bodensee (Sept. 7, 2007, p. 66) from Germany to Switzerland in 8 ½ hours. With swimming and jogging, Fuchs tries to keep fit.
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“I recovered well from my health problems I had some years ago with my muscles in the leg, but I’m riding fewer horses now,” he said. “I have reduced the daily amount of horses from five or six to just two.”
Tinka’s Boy retired in 2006. In 2007, with his two top mounts Nirmette and La Toya III, Fuchs won seven major grand prix classes, and, for the second time in his career, his earnings topped $1.4 million.
“My horse owner Adolfo Juri would like to see me going to the 2008 Olympics, but he accepts my decision. There are so many other shows he can enjoy,” said Fuchs.
This year Fuchs is working to qualify for the FEI World Cup Show Jumping Final in Gothenburg (Sweden), and he intends to participate on the Global Champions Tour and is aiming for the lucrative final at Sao Paulo (Brazil).
He also hopes “to produce the best results possible for Switzerland in the Super League Nations Cups to ensure Switzerland will stay in that league.”
Fuchs has no fixed date for his official retirement, but he’s made up his mind that his future in show jumping will not be all that long. “My career will end with the careers of Nimette and La Toya III,” he stated.
Birgit Popp
