The Selle Français (SF) is a breed of sport horse from France. An athletic horse with good gaits, it is usually bay or chestnut in color. The Selle Français was created in 1958 when several French riding horse breeds were merged into one stud book. The new breed was meant to serve as a unified sport horse during a period when horses were being replaced by mechanization and were transforming into an animal used mainly for sport and leisure.
The team dressage event, part of the equestrian program at the 2004 Summer Olympics, used the results of the first round of the individual dressage to award rankings. That round was held on 20 August and 21 August 2004 at the Olympic Equestrian Centre on the outskirts of Markópoulo, in the Attica region of Greece. Like all other equestrian events, the dressage competition was mixed gender, with both male and female athletes competing in the same division. 10 teams, each consisting of four horse and rider pairs, entered the contest.
Theodora Elisabeth Gerarda "Anky" van Grunsven is a Dutch dressage champion who is the only rider to record three successive Olympic wins in the same event. Along with her Olympic successes, she has won numerous medals at the World Equestrian Games (WEG), and is the only rider to have competed at every WEG since they began in 1990. Between 1990 and 2006, she competed at the Games in dressage, but in 2010 she was named as part of the Dutch reining team, marking a major change in discipline.
Andreas Helgstrand is a Danish dressage rider. He won four consecutive Danish dressage championships, from 2005 through 2008.
Isabell Werth is a German equestrian who has competed in dressage at seven Olympic Games —1992, 1996, 2000, 2008, 2016, 2020, 2024— winning the gold medal in the team event in all seven, and one gold and six silver medals in the individual event. She stands alone in having medals from seven Olympics, or across a span of 32 years; her 14 medals are the most for any German or equestrian. She also has numerous titles in the World and European Championships and World Cups.
Yvonne Losos de Muñiz is an Olympic athlete and international Grand Prix dressage rider. Born in Nigeria to Canadian parents, she represents the Dominican Republic internationally. She belongs to the elite Dominican Olympic athlete program CRESO.
Hans Peter Minderhoud is a Dutch dressage rider.
Adelinde Cornelissen is a Dutch dressage rider.
Ingrid Klimke is a German eventing rider. She appeared at five Olympics from 2000 to 2016. With her horse Abraxxas, she won two gold medals in team eventing at the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2012 Summer Olympics. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, she won a team silver with Hale-Bob.
Heike Kemmer is a German equestrian who competes in the sport of dressage. She won team gold medals at the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics, as well as individual bronze in 2008. She also won medals at the German Dressage Championships and European Dressage Championships, as well as assisting the German team to gold at the 2006 World Equestrian Games. Kemmer retired Bonaparte 67, upon whom she had won most of her international medals, in 2011.
Liselott Linsenhoff was a German equestrian and Olympic champion. Competing in the mixed dressage on the famous Swedish stallion Piaff, she won a gold medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics with the West German team, and an individual gold medal at the 1972 Summer Olympics, becoming the first woman gold medalist in this event.
Ulla Salzgeber is a German equestrian and Olympic champion who competes in the sport of dressage. Competing in the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics, she won two team gold medals, one individual silver and one individual bronze. She also won numerous medals at the World Equestrian Games, Dressage World Cup and European Dressage Championships. After the retirement of her Olympic horse, Rusty, after the 2004 Games, and unexpected death of her second international-level mount in 2005, Salzgeber struggled to find a new Grand Prix-level horse.
Rick Rockefeller-Silvia is an equestrian athlete, equine breeder and former model.
Edward Gal is a Dutch dressage rider. He and the stallion Totilas, were triple gold medalists at the 2010 FEI World Equestrian Games, becoming the first horse-rider partnership ever to sweep the three available dressage gold medals at a single FEI World Games. Going into the 2010 Games, they had amassed multiple world-record scores in international competition, leading one American journalist to call them "rock stars in the horse world". After the World Equestrian Games, Totilas was sold to German trainer Paul Schockemöhle. Gal continues to be successful training and competing dressage horses at the international level. Despite the success, he has been criticised to be harsh trainer who creates stressed and fearful horses.
Laura Tomlinson MBE is a German-British dressage rider competing at Olympic level. As of 30 June 2012 the Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI) ranked her 3rd in the world riding Mistral Højris and 36th on Andretti H. In that year, Tomlinson, riding Mistral Højris under her maiden name of Laura Bechtolsheimer, won two medals in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London; gold for Great Britain in the team dressage with Carl Hester and Charlotte Dujardin, the first ever Olympic team gold in the discipline for her country, and bronze in the individual dressage behind gold medalist and compatriot Dujardin.
Steffen Peters is a German-born equestrian who competes for the United States in dressage. He has participated in five Olympic Games, winning a team bronze medal on two occasions and a team silver medal once (2020). Peters has been successful in numerous other international competitions, including winning team bronze at the 2006 World Equestrian Games, two individual bronze medals at the 2010 World Equestrian Games and individual and team gold medals at both 2011 and 2015 Pan Am Games. The horse upon which he won many of his titles, Ravel, was retired in 2012. After 2012, his international successes came on Legolas. At the beginning of 2017, Peters handed over the ride on Legolas to his assistant rider Dawn White-O'Connor. Peters is currently working with a new international competition horse, Rosamunde.
Ashley Holzer is a Canadian-born equestrian specializing in dressage, who has been representing the United States since 2017. She was born in Toronto, the daughter of Moreen and Ian Nicoll, and is married to Charles Holzer. Representing Canada, she won a bronze medal in team dressage at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, together with teammates Cynthia Neale-Ishoy, Eva Pracht and Gina Smith. She also competed at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics.
Ernst Hoyos is an Austrian dressage trainer, who trained and worked from 1973 to 2002 in the Spanish Riding School, Vienna. He trained Ulla Salzgeber, winner of Olympic individual silver and bronze and two team medals, and Lisa Wilcox of the Equestrian Team bronze medal squad.
Jessica von Bredow-Werndl is a German Olympic dressage rider.
Sönke Rothenberger is a German Olympic equestrian. He represented his country at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where he finished in 19th place in the individual dressage competition. He was also part of the German dressage team which won the gold medal in the team dressage competition. In 2024 he was the first traveling reserve for the German dressage team at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
