Andrina Suter and her horse Fibonacci are exemplary for the upswing in the Swiss dressage scene. Even if their performance in Paris 2024 was a complete failure with 65.590 percentage points.
25 medals have been won by Swiss equestrian athletes at the Olympic Games to date. Of these, 15 have come from dressage (8 show jumping, 2 concours complet). The ride of Andrina Suter from Schaffhausen was still a long way from extending her lead in the internal three-way battle of the Olympic disciplines. But who knows: perhaps things will look different again in four or eight years' time at the latest and it will be possible to build on Seoul 1988, where Switzerland was still one of the top nations with silver in the team and bronze by Christine Stückelberger.
Andrina Suter may have been the only Swiss representative to ride in the Versailles Palace arena, but she is not alone on the national scene. The 32-year-old snatched the Olympic ticket because she prevailed against Carla Aeberhard, Delia Eggenberger, Charlotta Rogerson and Charlotte Lehnherr on a fairly balanced list of candidates by meeting the high selection criterion of 70 percentage points once. Only a few points were missing and Switzerland would also have qualified as a team for the 2024 Games.
Wanted: Horses
The team manager Ruth Haas is aiming to make it into the top 8 with her team. "It's not just a lack of ability, but primarily a lack of horses," she says, citing one of the biggest obstacles on the way. The market has dried up and the four-legged friends can only be found at completely inflated prices. "That's why we have to breed the horses ourselves, find them at the age of six to seven."
Scouting and financing is not easy, but countries like Denmark have shown what is possible. "They even started their own breeding program 20 years ago and set up a junior program," says the head of the equestrian team. The Danes became world champions in 2022, ahead of the major nations Great Britain and Germany - as well as Switzerland in 14th place.
In Switzerland, it is hardly possible to have your own breeding via the association, but the junior program has been in place since 2024. The "Swiss Talents" Academy, a development program for young show jumping talents launched in 2019, is also open to young hopefuls in the disciplines of dressage and concours complet.
Eight long years
Development work in dressage riding takes time. On average, it takes eight years of training before a four-legged friend can compete at the highest level. And the money from sponsors only flows when a plan is in place, goals are defined and initial progress is made. This process has begun after decades of lone wolves and gossip in the scene. Three years ago, the German Oliver Oelrich was hired as the national coach of the Swiss dressage riders - from junior to elite level - and given a contract until 2028. According to insiders, he has brought the desired order to the system.
Andrina Suter emphasizes: "Yes, I can feel the team spirit. Much more work is being done at grassroots level." The 32-year-old switched to professional racing four years ago and sees prospects on the horizon. With Briatore, she already has a nine-year-old horse that has won young rider prizes and should be at his peak at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. And by then, Andrina Suter will hopefully have overcome the nervousness that prevented her from performing better on Tuesday.
SDA
