With the breath-taking Château de Versailles as the backdrop, Germany’s Christian Kukuk and Checker 47 (Comme Il Faut x Come On) were crowned Olympic champions in Versailles. As the only horse-and-rider combination with a double clear round in the final, Kukuk and the 14-year-old gelding won the gold, followed by Switzerland’s Steve Guerdat and Dynamix de Belheme (Snaike de Blondel x Cornet Obolensky) – reigning European champions – who claimed silver, and Netherlands' Maikel van der Vleuten and Beauville Z (Bustique x Jumpy des Fontaines) who repeated their bronze from Tokyo in 2021. 

Coming in as first to go in the jump-off of three, Kukuk took serious risk and it paid off – following him in the ring, both van der Vleuten and Guerdat each had a rail down. 

“Honestly, there was not so much in my head,” Kukuk said about going first into the jump-off. “We only had three clear rounds, so I knew I had a medal, so I felt zero pressure going in the ring. It did not matter what would happen, I would have a medal and that was already a huge thing. But, I knew what my horse is able to do, I knew what I am able to do, he won two Grand Prix classes already this year, so we are very competitive. I tried to find the balance to not over-try it, and not take the last risk, but still be that quick that I knew the other two would have to take some risk here and there. Then it can happen; you can have one down, and it happened to both of them – they had to try, and they had one down, so I was the only double clear and that makes me really proud.”

“It’s the most emotional day in my life honestly, in my career, this is the highest you can achieve in our sport. I am one of only a few ones calling myself Olympic champion, Olympic gold medallist and this is something that will stay forever,” Kukuk said. “I have to realize that still in the next days, there is also probably a lot coming up for me, but in this moment I am just really, really proud and happy of my horse, my family, my staff, my groom – my whole team around – that all of them actually are here. That I can share this moment with them, is also something very special."

“I am really happy for my horse, he really deserved this medal,” Kukuk said of Checker – his partner of the last four years. “The last year I think he has been the most outstanding horse, and I am just happy that we really made it today. His personality is actually quite funny; he is very self-confident, but in the next moment, he can be really spooky and shy about funny things – but not in the ring, in the ring he is like a lion. He is always fighting for me, he always tries his heart out for me and that makes him special – but these are special horses, they are really, really smart in their heads. He understands it is a special situation, and that’s why he is so good.”

“From the first moment, I had a special feeling on him – I had the feeling he can do something special,” Kukuk said about his first meeting with Checker. “It took a while with him actually, we had good results, but in the last year what he has been doing… Our partnership, knowing each other so well, created something special.”

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