Ludger Beerbaum

Educated in the stable of Olympic medalist Paul Schockemöhle, German equestrian Ludger Beerbaum has won all the major available show jumping titles. At the Olympic Games, he won three team jumping titles (1988, 1996, 2000), adding the 1992 individual title. The German team also placed first in Athina but was relegated to third when Beerbaum’s result was scratched after his horse was discovered to have been given a prohibited medicine. Beerbaum did not receive a medal in 1996, but the team did. Curiously, at these games he was the flagbearer of his country at the Opening Ceremony.

Beerbaum won two team world titles at the 1994 and 1998 World Equestrian Games, and three team (1997, 2003, 2011) and two individual (1997, 2001) golds at the European Championships. The 1993 World Cup Final also went to Beerbaum, who won the Aachen Grand Prix three times.

Markus Beerbaum, Ludger’s brother, is also a noted show jumper, as is Markus’s wife, US-born Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum. Ludger Beerbaum competed in seven Olympic Games, starting in 1988, missing only the 2012 London Olympics. In addition to his active sports career, Beerbaum ran a stallion station as well as a tournament and trading stable in Riesenbeck.