Michael Jung (equestrian)

Michael Jung (born 31 July 1982) is a German equestrian who competes in eventing. He won three gold and one silver medals in total at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics. In 2013 he was inducted into the Eventing Rider Association Hall of Fame.

Career

He was born to Joachim Jung, a former dressage and show jumping competitor and took up horse riding aged 6. At the 2012 Olympic Games, he won gold medals in the individual and team events. In winning the individual event (on his 30th birthday), he made eventing history by becoming the first rider to ever hold the Olympic, World and European championship titles at the same time, having previously won the 2010 World title and 2011 European title. He won all three titles on the horse La Biosthetique Sam.

Since then, Jung has won individual and team gold medals at the 2013 Europeans, individual silver and team gold at the 2014 World Equestrian Games and individual and team gold at the 2015 European Championships. His individual victory at the 2015 Europeans made him only the second rider in history, after Virginia Leng, to win three consecutive European individual titles on three different horses. His wins were on La Biosthetique Sam (2011), Halunke FBW (2013) and FischerTakinou (2015).

CCI 4* wins

• 2009 Luhmühlen – La Biothesque Sam FBW
• 2012 Luhmühlen – Leopin FST
• 2015 Rolex Kentucky – FischerRocana FST
• 2015 Burghley – La Biothesque Sam FBW
• 2016 Rolex Kentucky – FischerRocana FST
• 2016 Badminton Horse Trials – La Biothesque Sam FBW

Jung's win at Badminton sealed the Rolex Grand Slam becoming only the second person in history to win it. His top horse La Biothesque Sam has also finished second at the Badminton horse trials (2013), and third at both Rolex Kentucky (2015) and Luhmuhlen (2015).