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German riders take another Olympic equestrian gold

Germany's riders added a third gold medal to their stunning sweep of the Olympic equestrian events on Thursday, winning the team dressage competition.

Published: 14 August 2008 18:23 CEST
German riders take another Olympic equestrian gold
Dressage rider Isabell Werth on her horse Satchmo. Photo: DPA

The victory consolidated their dominance of the sport, with Germany having won every Olympic team dressage gold medal since hosting the Munich Games back in 1972.

The team scored 72.916 percent, thanks to a superb test from one of the legends of the sport, Isabell Werth on Satchmo.

The Netherlands won the silver medal with 71.750 percent. Denmark, emphasising Europe’s domination of the event, took the bronze with 68.875 percent.

“We are so happy, the whole team were very excited to show a good competition,” Werth told reporters after scoring 76.417 percent in her test. “A lot of people didn’t believe in the German team after we lost the team gold in last year’s European championships.

“The whole team were really helping each other and we have tried to get the best for everybody that was the key to our success,” she said.

The victory came after Germany’s sweep of the team and individual eventing gold medals earlier in the week, giving them three out of three in equestrian competitions at these Games so far.

Basketball blues

But elsewhere, Germany’s Olympic dreams were struggling. NBA star Dirk Nowitzki and the German basketball squad lost to 59 – 72 to Spain, putting the team under pressure to beat hosts China on Saturday to have any hope of reaching the quarterfinals.

Nowitzki criticized his performance of only 11 points – well below what he normally averages each game. “It wasn’t enough. We didn’t win, which means I didn’t do my job,” said Nowitzki.

Coach of the German national team Dirk Bauermann said his players knew facing China wouldn’t be easy this weekend. “The Chinese play with an unbelievable amount of fire and passion, with the enthusiasm of the entire country behind them. It’s going to be a very tough game,” he said.

afp/dpa

CHINA

China derides Copenhagen democracy meet as ‘political farce’

China on Tuesday blasted a democracy conference in Copenhagen attended by Taiwan's president and a Hong Kong activist alongside Danish government officials this week, qualifying it a "political farce".

Published: 11 May 2021 13:30 CEST
China derides Copenhagen democracy meet as 'political farce'
Demonstrators gathered outside the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday. Photo: Emil Helms/Ritzau Scanpix

The Copenhagen Democracy Summit was held Monday and Tuesday in the Danish capital and organised by the Alliance of Democracies, an organisation targeted by Beijing sanctions in March and founded by former NATO boss Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

In addition to Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen and Hong Kong democracy activist Nathan Law, Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod also participated in the forum by video link, which Beijing said violated “the one-China principle.”

“This summit is a political farce,” the Chinese embassy in Denmark wrote in a statement published on Tuesday. “Inviting those who advocate Taiwan and Hong Kong ‘independence’ to the meeting violates the one-China principle and interferes in China’s internal affairs,” it said.

“Some hypocritical western politicians are good at meddling in other countries’ internal affairs and creating divisions and confrontation in the name of ‘democracy’ and ‘freedom’. They are bound to fail,” it added.

At the conference on Monday, Kofod said it was “deplorable” that Beijing had imposed sanctions on 10 European individuals and organisations in response to EU sanctions on Xinjiang officials over their actions against the Uyghur Muslim minority.

Like most countries, Denmark applies the one-China principle — under which Beijing bars other countries from having simultaneous diplomatic relations with Taipei — though it does maintain relations with Taiwan.

Cut off politically from the rest of China since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the territory is self-governing but is not recognised by
the United Nations.

Beijing considers Taiwan a rebel province that will one day return under its control, by force if necessary.

China’s sabre-rattling has increased considerably over the past year, with fighter jets and nuclear-capable bombers breaching Taiwan’s air defence zone on a near-daily basis.

“Our government is fully aware of the threats to regional security, and is actively enhancing our national defence capabilities to protect our
democracy,” Tsai told the conference in a video address on Monday. US President Joe Biden is expected to present his China strategy soon, as
calls mount for him to publicly commit to defending Taiwan militarily in the event of a Chinese attack.

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