Anky van Grunsven

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Equestrian
Olympic medal record
Competitor for Netherlands
Gold	2000 Sydney	Individual dressage
Gold	2004 Athens	Individual dressage
Silver	1992 Barcelona	Team dressage
Silver	1996 Atlanta	Individual dressage
Silver	1996 Atlanta	Team dressage
Silver	2000 Sydney	Team dressage

Theodora Elisabeth Gerarda ("Anky") van Grunsven (born 2 January 1968 in Erp, Noord-Brabant) is a Dutch Dressage champion who won the gold medal in the 2000 Olympics with her horse Bonfire and gold in the 2004 Olympics with Salinero.

Anky has also dominated World Cup Dressage competition, being named the World Cup Dressage Champion eight times, in 1995 (Los Angeles, riding Cameleon Bonfire), 1996 (Gothenburg, riding Cameleon Bonfire), 1997 (s'Hertogenbosch, riding Cameleon Bonfire), 1999 (Dortmund, riding Gestion Bonfire), 2000 (s'Hertogenbosch, riding Gestion Bonfire), 2004 (London, riding Gestion Salinero), 2005 (Las Vegas, riding Keltec Salinero), and 2006 (Amsterdam, riding Keltec Salinero), 2008 (Brabant, riding IPS Salinero)

Anky is married to her trainer/coach Sjef Janssen who entered the world of horses at the age of 28 and introduced new views on training.

In 2005, accusations of abusive training by Van Grunsven appeared in the German horse magazine St. Georg. This included the technique dubbed "Rollkur" by the dressage public, now known as "hyperflection of the neck." The accusations were found unjustified in court. Germany was the world leader in dressage for decades until the Dutch team, including Van Grunsven, won the Nations Cup in Aachen in 2005.