Julia Krajewski and Amande de B’Neville won individual eventing gold at Tokyo 2020. © FEI/EFE/Kai Försterling

Some things are just meant to be. And at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Games, Germany's Julia Krajewski became the first-ever woman to win the Individual gold medal in Eventing just weeks after she looked unlikely to be selected for Japan.

While she made the final day look easy as she soared around the jumping course with Amande De B'neville, or 'Mandy', Krajewski’s path to the top of the podium has been anything but easy. Just this year she has faced the death of her father and the forced retirement of her top horse, Samurai du Thot, after he had his eye removed due to a lingering infection.

Two years ago, she lost another horse, Chipmunk, who switched to Michael Jung, with that partnership among the dozens who she beat to secure that famous win in Tokyo. Only an unexpected 4* win with Mandy in Saumur in May ensured she would be picked for the Games.

Some things are meant to be, indeed.

Females first

Krajewski’s win completes an all-female Eventing trifecta at the moment with fellow women Ros Canter and Ingrid Klimke reigning supreme as World champion and European champion respectively. And with three women taking the Individual medals in the Dressage competition earlier, all eyes will be on the Jumpers to see if the women come out guns blazing too.

Aboard her spectacular mare (just to add to the girl power) Amande De B'neville, Krajewski proved too strong for her rivals in the jumping phase. After finishing fifth in dressage, and moving up the field in cross-country, she pulled off a lovely clear in the Individual final with a minimal time penalty. No mean feat, given the quick time and technical track that faced the riders on the final day at Baji Koen Equestrian Park.

But though Krajewski might not quite be a household name (or wasn’t, a couple of days ago) she’s no stranger to the international stage.

“I won my first pony European title 20 years ago. And since then it's been a roller coaster really. And it's quite unreal,” she said after her win.

Looking back

Despite not growing up in a horsey family, Krajewski’s parents decided she needed a hobby. When they moved to a smaller town, they bought a farm – and horses were a natural addition. Krajewski was a natural at riding, and competed twice at Pony Europeans, followed by Junior Europeans, then Young Rider Europeans.

A fairly straightforward upward trajectory for a woman who once swore she’d never be a professional rider because it was too difficult to make money!

Krajewski mostly fell into Eventing rather than choosing it. She says she is actually a Dressage rider at heart, but her first pony didn’t really like the discipline!

She gave Eventing a shot, and as the saying goes, never looked back. She won double gold at her first pony Europeans in 2001 when she was just 12 years old. At her second pony Europeans she came home with Team gold and Individual silver in 2002.

Her winning streak didn’t stop at Juniors, where she won two European Team golds and an Individual European silver on Leading Edge 2.

Peaks and troughs

Once she entered the adult arena, Krajewski’s career was marked by peaks and troughs. Her previous high before Tokyo would have to be her Team silver at Rio 2016.

One notable challenge was the sale of her horse Chipmunk in 2019, which left her devastated. The bay gelding, of course, switched to Michael Jung and was coincidentally his partner as Julia and Mandy took gold in Tokyo.

Having partnered with Chipmunk since he was only four and partnered him at the 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games, she said her “stable would look very different without him” but that she had to trust that there was a reason for it and wished Jung the best. Though she had hoped he would be her mount for major upcoming events like Tokyo and perhaps an FEI World Cup Final, Krajewski had a kindred spirit in Amande De B'neville.

After a difficult start to 2021 with the death of her father, Krajewski couldn’t hold back the tears when she took to the podium in Tokyo.

“I had to think of my family, my father who died in the beginning of the year and basically everyone who's always been behind me and with me. It's a bit of a fairytale” she said.

“It's the stuff that films are made of. No, for some time, I thought the Olympics would happen without me. And that was fine. Then slowly, with going to Saumur and winning there, and feeling that Mandy really stepped up a level and could deliver something really big, I thought, OK, 'Maybe you've got a little chance of going.'

“You have to know that the horse, she's still less experienced maybe than other horses, and we haven't been on the world stage together really yet. So doing a championship with her. I didn't really know where we would end up, how it would happen. But well, it worked."

Though “it worked” is probably the understatement of the century, you have to think that perhaps Krajewski was right – and everything does happen for a reason.

A nerveless performance

In true champion style, she showed hardly any signs of nerves heading in to jump her final round.

In fact, Krajewski said although she felt “some” pressure her only goal was to ride a good round, not even thinking of what was at stake – nothing other than an Olympic gold medal.

Channelling all her focus and poise, she expertly guided the bay mare round for a quick clear in a stadium so silent you could hear a pin drop. Before the pair went in to make history, Krajewski felt a quiet sense of confidence, telling her horse “Mandy we're going to get it.” “I think Mandy knew it was a special day,” she told reporters following her win.

Though Chipmunk went to one of the best riders in the world, it wasn’t meant to be for Jung – who couldn’t defend his Rio Olympics title against the powerhouse duo of Krajewski and Mandy.

At the end, it came down to everything that equestrians live for. The bond between horse and rider. “I'm super, super proud of my horse. I'm relieved and happy that I made it happen. I'm very thankful for everyone who has been with me all the way. It's been a rollercoaster!” Krajewski gushed after the win.

That it certainly has. One we don’t think she’d change for the world.

Wendy Schaeffer paved the way

Australia’s Wendy Schaeffer would have been the first, if it wasn’t for a format change ahead of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics; Wendy — riding her Pony Club horse Sunburst and barely recovered from a broken leg — topped the leaderboard when the Australian team took home the gold medal, however it was decided for Atlanta that the individual competition would be run entirely separate, rather than deriving the results from the team list. This meant that Blyth Tait and Ready Teddy took individual gold. This format also ran at Sydney, however by Athens it was back to running the two events combined. 

Source: FEI article, with edits by Equestrian Life. 

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