Zhao Zhiwen is one of China's leading show jumpers. Predominantly based in France, the 30-year-old won gold in the National Games Team Jumping event in 2005 and was part of China's first ever Olympic show jumping team at the Beijing 2008 Olympics. Firstly, congratulations on winning the Longines Shanghai Celebrity Grand Prix! What does it mean to you to win this prestigious prize? It was wonderful to compete in this show. The organisation was really good and we felt the same atmosphere like we are used to in Europe. My horse was wonderful and I am very happy with the result, being placed first on Saturday and also winning the Grand Prix on Sunday. All in all a wonderful show. How long have you been riding horses? How did you first get into show jumping? I have been riding since I was 10 years old. I started riding in France, and I fell in love with the horses immediately. After that I started to ride more and more and little by little I also started to learn how to jump. The horses taught me a lot. How many horses do you have? Which is your best horse at the moment? At the moment I have some horses in France, some are from my parents and some are for dealing. I have a little stable in the Alps in France where I work with those horses. There are also some owners who give me horses to ride. The best horse I have to ride at the moment is Bolero and he is stabled in China. What is your main target for 2014? For 2014 I aim to go to the Asian Games. Will you compete internationally this year? If so, where are you aiming to go? I will compete internationally but not the big events. For that I would need better horses and probably more support from sponsors and horse owners, so I really hope that I am able to find that. Since you first started competing, how has equestrianism in China developed? The horse industry and the horse sport in China is growing really fast. We can see lots of change through-out the years. The riders, the shows and the horses are getting better. The horse people are more and more professional and so is the equestrian management as well as the professionals like blacksmiths and vets. What was it like to compete at your home Olympics in 2008? It was a great experience to participate in the Olympic Games in my own country. It was the first time for me and I learned a lot. I hope somewhere in the future I would get this chance again. Ce Is Rio 2016 on your agenda? It is always a goal for an athlete to participate to the Olympic Games, but horse riding is an expensive sport and for that a lot of support is needed to get to that top level. Are there any young Chinese riders that we need to be keeping an eye out for in the future? In China there are a lots of talented riders. In my opinion to get to an international level they need to get some more experience in Europe or from Europeans, as Europe has set a high standard to equestrianism. The best riders are all from or based in Europe, and these specialists are to be used to gain knowledge and learn from. The Chinese riders have to learn just a bit more about horsemanship. What do you do when you are not riding? When I am not riding in China, I travel a lot and I look for new horses, get training and give help to other riders. Horses are my passion and my job and it is pretty much a way of life. As much as I am lucky with being able to work with what I love, I do have other hobbies like; Skiing, listening to music, going to the cinema or playing ping-pong with family. © Press
