Sönke Rothenberger (born 14 October 1994) is a German Olympic

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or riding in British English) Examples of this are: *Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...

. He represented his country at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

, 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 The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

in Paris. Sönke is the only son of dressage riders

Sven Sven is a Scandinavian masculine first name. In Old Norse the meaning was "young man" or "servant" and the original Old Norse spelling was ''sveinn''. Variants such as '' Svend'' are found in Danish and Norwegian. Another variant, '' Svein'' ...

and Gonnelien Rothenberger, multiple Olympic medalists from

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. German-born Sven switched to the Netherlands after marrying Gonnelien. Meanwhile, Sönke, as well as his sisters Sanneke and Semmieke, have been representing Germany since the start of their international careers.

International Championship Results

Notable Horses

* Deinhard B - 1999 Palomino German Riding Pony Stallion (Dornick B x Golden Dancer) ** 2007 European Pony Championships - Team Gold Medal, Individual Bronze Medal ** 2008 European Pony Championships - Team Gold Medal, Individual Gold Medal ** 2009 European Pony Championships - Team Gold Medal, Individual Silver Medal, Individual 15th Place Freestyle * Cosmo 59 - 2007 Bay Dutch Warmblood Gelding (Van Gogh x Fruhling) ** 2014 European Young Rider Championships - Team Gold Medal, Individual Bronze Medal, Individual Ninth Place Freestyle ** 2016 Rio Olympics - Team Gold Medal, Individual 19th Place ** 2017 European Championships - Team Gold Medal, Individual Silver Medal, Individual Silver Medal Freestyle **2018 World Equestrian Games - Team Gold Medal

References

1994 births Living people German male equestrians Equestrians at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic equestrians for Germany German dressage riders Olympic gold medalists for Germany Olympic medalists in equestrian Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics German people of Dutch descent 21st-century German sportsmen {{Germany-equestrian-bio-stub