Anky van Grunsven

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 and in the 2008 Olympics with "Salinero".

Van Grunsven 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)

Van Grunsven 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.

External links

* [http://www.anky.nl Official homepage]
*worldcat id|id=lccn-n2006-63462