The big birthday party will not be at his home in Weisenheim in the Palatinate today. Austria’s show jumping legend Hugo Simon wants to toast to the 1980s with his wife Margit, whom he married ten years ago. But otherwise the jubilee is not a bit quiet. “I have so much on my mind, I do everything at a run. It’s around the clock,” says “Hugo Nationale”. His real estate business keeps him busy and, of course, how could it be otherwise, his love of life, horses. “I don’t ride anymore myself, but I train them.”
Born on August 3, 1942 in Krummwasser in what is now the Czech Republic, the son of a horse dealer who fled to Germany with his parents after the Second World War began horseback riding at the age of eight. He initially did eventing and dressage before switching to show jumping. In this discipline he became one of the greats.
Won 77 cars alone
In 1972 Simon was only considered as a German substitute for the Olympic Games in Munich, which is why he accepted Austrian citizenship and immediately finished fourth for his new country. In his decades-long career, Simon has always had congenial four-legged partners. Without Lavender (3rd at the World Championships, 4th and 5th at the Olympics), Flipper (156 wins), Gladstone (1979 World Cup, substitute Olympics 1980), Apricot (Olympic team silver 1992) and the legendary Hanoverian chestnut ET (4th Olympics 1996, World Cup victories 1997, 1998) the successes would not have been possible. ET alone jumped in 3.6 million euros in premiums, a record for a show jumper. And Simon won no fewer than 77 cars as extra prizes in competitions.
But no matter how often he triumphed in Grand Prix and important tournaments, the necessary luck was usually lacking in individual competitions at major events. At the World Equestrian Games in Rotterdam in 1980, Simon won the individual competition with Gladstone – the show jumpers had boycotted the Games in Moscow – but there was no gold medal for it. In the sign of the five rings, Simon finished fourth twice (1972 and 1996) and fifth once (1976). In 1988 the performance in Seoul ended prematurely in the moat. Together with Thomas Frühmann, Boris Boor and Jörg Münzner he managed the big surprise coup in Barcelona in 1992 when he and his companions won silver behind Holland. In October 2016 he finished his last start at an international tournament in Wiener Neustadt with a second place. Two years before that, he made history in the Arena Nova because at the age of 73 he distinguished himself as the oldest winner of a Grand Prix to date. But he never stopped anyway.
Simon is still interested in Austria’s show jumping sport, which he shaped more than almost anyone else. A few days after his anniversary he will travel to Herning for the World Championships. “If you need my advice, I’m happy to give it,” says Simon. He is still in demand, as his commitment to the German show jumper Richard Vogel proves. This is how “Hugo Nationale” likes to enjoy his equestrian unrest.
Source: Nachrichten
