Very sadly, Dutch Olympic rider Bert Romp passed away on October 4th following an accident. The accident happened the day before, while Romp was loading a horse into a truck and got kicked. Romp was rushed to hospital, but very sadly died the following afternoon.

Next to being a member of the gold medal winning Dutch team at the Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992 with Waldo E, Romp was also a part of the Dutch Olympic team in Atlanta in 1996. With the famous stallion Mr Blue, Romp won several major competitions such as the Volvo World Cups in Berlin and Paris, the German Masters in Stuttgart and the two also won team silver at the European Championships in Mannheim in 1997. 

In 2000, Romp became Chef d'Equipe for the Dutch senior riders. After the Olympics in Athens, Romp chose to focus more on managing and training and completed his Master Coach in Sports-certificate at the Dutch Olympic Committee (NOC*NSF).

Romp has three sons, Remon, Ruben and Jesper – all successful riders themselves. Ruben competed on the Dutch team at the European Championships 2017 in Gothenburg with Teavanta II C Z. 

“Bert did not come from a horse family, and worked hard to get to where he was,” Emile Hendrix, a close friend to Romp and also a fellow team member at the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996, says. “Bert was a complete horseman, and a great coach. I had the pleasure to both compete and work alongside him. Bert was also very encouraging with his children Remon, Ruben and Jesper, and supported them all in their own careers.”

“As a person, Bert was very pleasant. Bert was almost a bit shy and would never put himself forwards. Next to the horses, he enjoyed music very much. I have great memories of us going to a Dire Straits concerts some years ago, music was a big part of his life,” Hendrix tells. 

Our sincere condolences go out to Bert Romp’s family and friends. May he rest in peace.

"Olympic Jumping athlete Bert Romp, a member of the Dutch gold medal team at the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games, has died following an accident in Middelbeers in the Netherlands where he was coaching. He was due to celebrate his 60th birthday on 4 November.

The accident happened on 3 October while he was loading a horse into a truck and was kicked. He was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery, but died the following afternoon (4 October).

While his team mates Jos Lansink, Piet Raijmakers and Jan Tops were presented with gold in Barcelona, under new rules that had been brought in for the 1992 Olympics, only the best three athletes were presented with medals. Following complaints about the injustice of Bert Romp being denied a medal, the rules were changed and all team members received medals at subsequent Games.

Bert Romp made his second Olympic appearance on the Dutch team at the Atlanta 1996 Games and, eight years later, acted as chef d’equipe at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. He was also a member of the silver medal team at the 1997 European Championships in Mannheim (GER).

He started competing at the age of 16 and went on to train with the legendary Henk Nooren. Bert Romp gave back to the sport as national coach for the Dutch Jumping athletes between 2000 and 2004, and also for a number of international athletes, including Jose Maria Larocca (ARG), Derin Demirsoy (TUR), Katharina Offel (UKR), Yuri Mansur (BRA), Gerardo Pasquel (MEX) and Ibrahim Bisharat (JOR). He was due to take over as national coach for Finland later this month.

He was incredibly proud of his three sons, Remon, Ruben and Jesper, who all followed in their father’s footsteps, competing successfully at national and international level. Ruben and Jesper won medals at young rider and junior European Championships and Ruben was a member of the senior Dutch team at the 2017 European Championships in Gothenburg (SWE).

“Equestrian sport has sadly lost a great ambassador and true horseman with the passing of Bert Romp”, FEI Jumping Director John Roche said. “His record in the international arena speaks for itself. He will be truly missed by all of us.”

The FEI extends its deepest condolences to Bert Romp’s family, to his wide circle of friends and to the Royal Dutch Equestrian Federation."