Sönke Sönksen

Sönke Sönksen medal table
Sönke Sönksen at the Maimarkt tournament Mannheim 2014
Show jumping
Germany
Olympic Summer Games
silver	1976	Crew (with Kwept )
European championships
bronze	1975	Single (with Kwept )
gold	1975	Crew (with Kwept )
German championships
silver	1975	Men's ranking (with Kwept )
gold	1978	Men's ranking (with Kwept )

Sönke Sönksen (born March 2, 1938 in Meldorf ) is a former German show jumper.

Career

Sönksen was born into a farming family from Meldorf in Dithmarsch . In his parents' business there were horses on which he learned to ride. After day-to-day business, riding remained a leisure activity, later Sönksen was given the opportunity to train regularly. His trainer here was Otto Hinrichs for twelve years.

In 1966, Sönksen moved to the stables of the meat product manufacturer and riding stables owner Werner Stockmeyer, because he was looking for a rider. As early as 1965, Sönksen's father had sold the horse Odysseus to Stockmeyer, which was returned to Sönke Sönksen's training after changing stables. With this he won the Neumünster Grand Prix in 1967 . Until Werner Stockmeyer's death, Sönksen stayed in his stable in Versmold , where he still lives today.

In the 1970s he was one of the most successful show jumping riders in Germany, in this decade he also achieved his great championship successes : At the German championships in 1975 he took second place with Kwept . In the same year he was allowed to start for Germany at the European Championships in Munich with Kwept (from the Stockmeyer stable): With the team he won the gold medal, in the individual competition he won the bronze medal. A year later he took part in the 1976 Olympic Games , also with Kwept , and won the silver medal with the team. Sönksen and the team were awarded the Silver Laurel Leaf for this success.

His fourth big championship success followed in 1978 with Kwept : that year he won the gold medal of the German championship. After Werner Stockmeyer's death in 1979, his stable was closed. Sönksen was then supported by the Rau food works from Hilter for 13 years .

After completing his career, he took a coaching position at DOKR in 1992 at the side of the then national show jumping coach , Herbert Meyer , and until 2001 was around 50 times head of team for German teams at Nations Cups . Even after the end of this coaching activity at DOKR, Sönksen is active as a coach and team manager for German teams, preferably at the Nations Cups in Hickstead , Dublin and Spruce Meadows . In addition, Sönke Sönksen worked as a judge for jumping competitions since the end of his active sports career.

Several successful riders have emerged from Sönke Sönksen's work as a trainer: For example, the German champion from 2009 (women's ranking), Rebecca Golasch, worked in Sönksen's stable. Sönksen's most successful student is the current German discipline trainer show jumping, Heinrich-Hermann Engemann .

Web links

• Sönke Sönksen in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Photo: Sönke Sönksen with Kwept , Olympic Games 1976

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Sönke Sönksen , Internationales Sportarchiv 28/2010 from July 13, 2010, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)
2. ↑ VR Classics 2010 - Preview: Notes from the past ... ( Memento of the original from April 16, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Excerpt from Pferd + Sport 02/10, page 12 (PDF document; 1.5 MB) 
3. ↑ Tournament riding / prizes: Klötze und Kommerz , Der Spiegel , July 7, 1969
4. ↑ ^{a b} horse man from head to toe  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Haller Kreisblatt , September 4, 2010  
5. ↑ ^{a b} Sönke Sönksen turned 70 , press release of the German Equestrian Association , March 8, 2008, accessed on reitwelten.de
6. ↑ Jasper Nissen: Large rider and horse dictionary, Bertelsmann Lexikon Verlag, 1977, ISBN 3-570-04580-3 , page 462
7. ↑ The golden seventies: boom in equestrian sport, sporting successes everywhere ( memento of the original from January 9, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Werner Popken (pferdezeitung.com) 
8. ↑ Medalist Olympic Games from 1912-2004 ( Memento of the original from February 13, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , German Equestrian Federation 
9. ↑ Stadt Landshut, Sportchronik 1974-76: ... 1976 Reception of the German Olympic team in October with Federal Chancellor Helmut Schmidt and award with the silver laurel leaf,
10. ↑ 16.-17. February 2001: Jumping training with Soenke Soenksen , hippoline.lu
11. ↑ Link to: Visit to the Olympia hero, CJD secondary school students meet the former rider Sönke Sönksen  ( page can no longer be accessed , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Haller Kreisblatt , March 24, 2006  
12. ↑ UNI BENE - official program for the 50th May Market Tournament 2013 , page 137: Journey with Lolita
13. ↑ DM jumping riders: First championship title for Rebecca Golasch , horsemode.com, June 14, 2009
14. ↑ Portrait: Trainer Heinrich-Hermann Engemann ( Memento of the original from June 10, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.