Leading up to the highlight of show jumping in the Netherlands, CHIO Rotterdam, we are looking forward to this wonderful event with several top riders. We start by asking Willem how it feels to be Dutch Champion. The answer is typical Willem, quick, witty and funny. "Well, I get to park in front everywhere now. But without kidding, it feels good and it is nice that I can tick this title off my list. Every athlete wants to be champion of course, but on the other hand life goes on as usual and the intoxication is quickly over."
Willem Greve has had a successful year. Will he add the Rotterdam Grand Prix to his record? Willem answers firmly: "I will certainly try. At such a show you always want to win, that's why you enter the arena. The last two times TeamNL won the Longines FEI Nations Cup in Rotterdam, I was on the team both times and of course I would like to add a third time, but winning the Grand Prix would also be great. Incidentally, during both victories Maikel van der Vleuten was also on the team. Maikel with Verdi TN and Beauville Z and I with Carambole and Zypria S. N.O.P."
Test moments TeamNL
"However I don't know yet if I will be in the team again this year. It's still about 6 weeks to Rotterdam and there are now some serious test moments coming up. The national coach will bring the strongest possible team to the start and in the coming weeks we will see who they are. But last year's win tastes like more. It was an eventful time for Corona and the Olympics were already close. We only had a short and tough lead-up to a very important championship. Before Rotterdam I rode Knokke, where my horses were already running great and at CHIO they continued that. I rode clear and in the second round we had a time fault. It was great, what a release, nothing is as nice as winning with the team in your own country."
"My two top horses at the moment are Grandorado TN and Highway TN. I also have a fine eight-year-old stallion from an owner in Ireland. I also rode for an owner from that country at the beginning of my career and now I ride this horse for the two sons of the same man, very special. Basically, these three horses are going to Rotterdam."
Carambole
"My great stallion Carambole will basically not go. There will be a nice, fitting farewell for him. Carambole is still in top condition, but a horse like this deserves a beautiful, fitting end and winning Barcelona with the team certainly was. He has done his utmost for me for 13 years, has given everything and he doesn't deserve to slip away and leave the sport as a third-rate horse. He is still being ridden at home and besides that he goes to pasture. Sometimes he is out of sorts, he realizes that he is no longer the king that he used to be, but it's fine and I am sure that in five years time I will still feel exactly the same way." That makes you pause for a moment. Beautiful words from the rider from the Twente countryside in which the love and respect for his horse is clearly audible.
Incredibly happy
"When I think of Rotterdam, I think of Pancake House The Big, that is part of your show. But the CHIO is also a classic, there is a beautiful history attached to the event. The fact that the former Queen and now Princess Beatrix are often present is always special to me. And of course the woods you ride through when you have to go from the main arena to the stables or the other way around. That forest I walked through it both completely disillusioned and incredibly happy."
"This weekend I'm riding the competition in Redefin, Germany, a nice competition on grass. After that I have a week of nothing and then Rome and Sankt Gallen in a row. After that I have two weeks of nothing and then Rotterdam."
Barcelona final is equestrian Champions League
Back to 2021, despite Corona a successful year for Willem. We asked him what he has the most beautiful memories of that year and he didn't have to think about that for long. Willem: "Barcelona ! Without a doubt! I see the final of the Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup as the Champions League of equestrian sports. The team spirit was super, we all had our share of victory, the sport was great, my mother, my sisters, my niece and many friends were there and then ride zero with Carambole, it was perfect".
He has a sure answer to every question without hesitation and comes across as relaxed and cheerful, as always. We tell Willem that this is how he appears to us and he also appears to be honest. Willem: "I am glad that I come across like this, but to be honest I am not always like this. I am an extreme perfectionist, sometimes in a bad mood and very serious about the sport. The sport is my life and I do have some worries. But I feel good in my own skin and I always want to behave as decently as possible for the outside world."
A hug for Carambole
The last question already, we ask Willem to close the conversation himself. As he has surprised us before, he does so again. Willem: "I think it's an eternal shame that Pim Fortuyn was murdered. Just all that drivel on TV in the evening, the next generation pays the price. Pim was a charismatic man, a man of the people, I think that the Netherlands would look very different if he had lived."
source: CHIO.nl
Photo: © Sunshine Tour