ROAD TO PARIS – IJRC BOARD MEMBER: KEVIN STAUT. "Scuderia 1918 Viking d’la Rousserie has a lot of experience and an enormous potential"

How did you feel on the eve of your previous Olympic participation and how do you feel today?
On the eve of Rio, I seriously injured my back during the competition in Aachen. This was a short time before the start of the Games and I was really sick and needed treatment. I was certainly not in a good condition. Now I am eight years older but I am definitely in good shape and in the best condition to face the event. Managing the emotions in an Olympic competition should basically be no different to what you feel in any major event of the season. Of course, feeling the pressure of an entire nation and not just of the sporting world and the great media attention do not help but that is what I try to do.
 
What is your fondest memory of those moments?
Obviously, the moment when, with my team, I stood on the top step of the podium to receive the gold medal.
 
How did you choose your partner and what work did you do with him or her in the run-up to the Olympic Games?
Scuderia 1918 Viking d’la Rousserie has a lot of experience and an enormous potential. The courses of the Games are the biggest of the entire four-year period and it is necessary to have a horse with strength and skills. Viking is 15 years old. He was chosen after a very long assessment process carried out together with our chef d’equipe Henk Nooren. The horse got injured last year and had to rest for a long period of time. Since I started working him again last February, his preparation has been geared exclusively in view of the Paris Games. No series or other commitments.

Kevin Staut and Viking d’la Rousserie (credit: FEI/Threiner) Kevin Staut and Viking d’la Rousserie (credit: FEI/Threiner)

Who are the people you feel you have to thank for your presence in Paris and why?
I have to thank my entire team, my assistants and all those who contribute to the daily work, not only for the Olympic Games but for my entire life as a rider. I mean of course the owners who accompanied me in the past and those who trust me today, the sponsors, the grooms, the partners and all those involved in ensuring the well-being and the best daily routine for my competition mates.
 
How did you experience the first months of 2024 with the goal to be selected for the Olympics? Were you looking forward to it with concern or were you pretty sure you could make it?
At the beginning of 2024, I was not absolutely sure whether I could participate in the Paris Games. I had three horses that could potentially be used and I had to see which one would be the most suitable for the Olympic competition. In the first few months, I was very focused because each horse obviously had its own competition program and it was not easy.
 
What do you expect from the courses in Paris. Are you familiar with the work of the two chefs de piste?
The courses will certainly be up to an Olympic competition and designed with Santiago Varela’s and Gregory Bodo’s usual finesse. I also expect magnificent, unique fences for this great event, that can be remembered and tell a story. I also hope for highly technical courses that can highlight above all the horses’ quality and the riders’ skills.
 
What do you think of the Olympic Games formula?
All the riders and the IJRC too have unanimously claimed that it is more sensible to go back to the previous formula, with teams of four riders and with the worst result discarded.
 
Your prediction for the individual podium?
1) Julien Epaillard ; 2) Henrick Von Eckermann ; 3) Martin Fuchs
 
Your prediction for the team podium?
1) Germany ; 2) France;  3) Sweden
 
Press Release: IJRC Press Office
Portrait photo © IJRC/F.Petroni