The Corona virus spares no one so far is clear. Even one of the best dressage riders of the world, Isabell Werth, is at home at the moment. She talked with Dressursport Deutschland about her vision on this Corona crisis.
"I'm under the impression that someone wanted to stop the world in order to say we needed to slow things down. People are not travelling anymore, there's less traffic. Nature gets a chance to restore itself. Maybe this was necessary to make us think about what we were doing and to start a regeneration.
Werth was one of the first Olympic riders who stated that it would not be possible for the Olympics to take place. "I think the decision to postpone the Olympics was taken way too late. It seemed like everything was more important than human health, which should always be a priority. Now we are finally sure that the Olympics will not take place in June this year while it was obvious that it wasn't possible to organize them right now. Other countries such as the US are behind on this pandemic outbreak which would result in unfair competition. Athletes are forced to stay home, competitions are cancelled... Athletes and our horses can not compete without a good rythm".
The European Championships are programmed for 2021.. "We'll have to wait when the Olympics will take place exactly. The only thing we know right now is that they will take place before July next year but we don't know an exact date yet".
There are economic problems as well, Werth says: "This is an economic disaster, not only for our sport. A lot of competitions are cancelled meaning we don't have an income here. I don't see horse shows starting any day soon if I'm honest, ..."