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Isabell WERTH

Isabell WERTH, German Dressage athlete.

Name Isabell WERTH
FEI ID 10011389
Gender Female
Date of Birth 21/07/1969
Competing for Germany - GER
Registration Dressage 2024
Last update 29/07/2024
FEI Database


Dressage 70x70
General Interest
Nicknames Dressage Queen, The Queen, Bella (fei.org, 14 Nov 2021, 04 May 2020; olympics.nbcsports.com, 18 Dec 2019)
Hobbies Spending time with family and friends, watching tennis and Formula One, supporting German football team Schalke. (rp-online.de, 21 Jul 2019)
Memorable sporting achievement Winning two gold medals at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, and the gold medals she won at the World Equestrian Games [WEG] in 2006 and 2018. (rp-online.de, 21 Jul 2019)
Sporting philosophy / motto "Success is the end of a long road. It is the result of hard work and cooperation with the horses. It can be the first flying change or the little things in the everyday training that suddenly works." (malgretoutmedia.com, 10 Mar 2021)
Awards and honours She was named Best Athlete at the 2017 International Equestrian Federation [FEI] Awards. (fei.org, 03 Oct 2018) She was named the 1999 Sportswoman of the Year in the German region of North Rhine-Westphalia. (FEI, 04 Jul 2000)
Ambitions To compete at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. (eurodressage.com, 14 Sep 2021)
Other information FUTURE PLANS She plans to wind down her riding career after the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. "Paris is a turning point. Then at some point your active career will end. Whether that's 2024 or 2025, I'll find a sensible deal. I'll be 55 [in Paris] and I certainly no longer want to ride at the age of 60. Training has always fascinated me. I hope that my team at home will use the next three years to further establish themselves by then." (eurodressage.com, 14 Sep 2021) STABLES After working as a lawyer and in the marketing department of one of her sponsors, she moved to a stable near Hamburg, Germany. In 2004 she set up her own dressage training stable at her family home in Rheinberg, Germany. (isabell-werth.de, 26 May 2022; FEI Dressage Facebook page, 30 Sep 2020; olympics.nbcsports.com, 18 Dec 2019) SPORTING OUTLOOK She is one of the most successful dressage riders to have competed in the sport, winning multiple gold medals at the Olympic Games and the world championships. "I think about it very, very rarely. I'm glad and it makes me proud that all my hard work has been reflected. The number of medals is not important to me, but the way I brought different horses up. I enjoy developing a vision and therefore I never get tired of it." (morgenpost.de, 24 Jul 2019) OTHER ACTIVITIES In December 2020 she was elected president of the International Dressage Riders Club [IDRC]. In 2018 her autobiography 'Vier Beine tragen meine Seele' [Four Legs Carry My Soul] was published. (st-georg.de, 19 Jan 2021; eurodressage.com, 09 Dec 2020, 06 Jan 2019)
Milestones She won team gold and individual silver at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo to take her total of Olympic medals to 12 - a record for an equestrian athlete. (SportsDeskOnline, 20 Sep 2021) In winning at Tokyo 2020, she set an Olympic record for the longest time between gold medals - 29 years between 1992 and 2021.
Sport Specific Information
When and where did you begin this sport? She began riding at age five on her parents' farm in Rheinberg, Germany.
Why this sport? Her family is involved in equestrian sport. She concentrated on jumping and eventing until age 17, when Uwe Schulten-Baumer, a dressage coach and the father of her friend Verena, asked if she wanted to try riding one of his horses. "I always had a soft spot for dressage. This is what I really, really love to do."
Club / Team RFV Graf von Schmettow Eversael: Rheinberg, GER
Name of coach Monica Theodorescu [national], GER
Further Personal Information
Family Partner Wolfgang Urban, son Frederik [2009]
Residence Rheinberg, GER
Occupation Athlete, Business Owner, Coach, Horse Trainer
Languages German, English