Netz Loses German Olympic Team Reserve Spot, Rothenberger and Hemmer Called Up

Dressage

Germany

The drama continues this Saturday morning: Raphael Netz will not be moving into the first reserve spot after Ingrid Klimke's unfortunate withdrawal.

Sönke Rothenberger and Katharina Hemmer have both been called up as new reserves.

Whereabouts

Netz was officially selected as the second team reserve, but he proved to be not in order with filling in his WADA doping whereabouts.

The German Olympic Sports Committee (DOSB) has therefore rejected him as team rider.

Bayerns Pferde first posted the official explanation with a quote from DOSB, which the FN did not provide in its press release:

"As part of the dressage squad nomination procedure, the DOSB also nominated the reserves pending compliance to the nomination criteria. During a review of the criteria, which was necessary due to an injured horse, it was determined that Raphael Netz did not fully meet these criteria. These are reporting requirements regarding the anti-doping regulations."

Allegedly Netz did not properly fill out his whereabouts for human doping testing on the ADAMS app and is now rejected by the DOSB as team reserve.

Eurodressage reached out to Netz but so far has not received a reply.

Rothenberger and Hemmer

Sönke Rothenberger (Fendi) and Katharina Hemmer (Denoix PCH) will be filling the two vacant reserve spots.

They will join the three German Olympic team riders in training camp near Versailles. The group leaves on Monday. Only the team and reserve will then move to the actual show grounds while the second reserve stays on call until two hours before the first vet check.