Olympic Dressage: Totilas and Rath Out of Games

The German Equestrian Federation announced this morning that dressage superstar Totilas will not be representing Germany at the London Olympic Games. The Federation reported that the rider Matthias Rath has suffered a relapse of mononucleosis. Matthias posted on his web site that he was diagnosed with the debilitating health condition (sometimes known as?Epstein Barr virus) two weeks ago. Totilas has remained in training while Matthias has rested. The?German Olympic Equestrian Committee (DOKR) had planned to visit the horse and rider tomorrow (Friday) to evaluate their fitness. Now that visit will not be necessary. In the Federation’s statement, German team physician Dr. Manfred Giensch commented that Matthias Rath requires complete rest with the warning: “Preparation for the Olympics and a possible start in London would be associated with a severe health risk.” Matthias Rath said, “It was my big dream to go with this one horse, and this great young team for Germany to the Olympic Games. But it would be irresponsible for my own health and to my teammates if I were nominated with this health condition.”?????????

Matthias Rath and Totilas at Aachen a year ago. (CHIO Aachen photo)

Fran Jurga is a freelance writer and editor from Gloucester, Massachusetts. Her award-winning blogs include?The Jurga Report for EQUUS Magazine?and?War Horse News?on the 2011 Steven Spielberg film. Fran is the founder of?Hoofcare and Lameness Journal?and writes a specialist?Hoof Blog.? Fran wrote the?WorldRides blog for the Hong Kong equestrian events of the 2008 Beijing Olympics?and the Discover WEG blog for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in 2010.You can?follow Fran on Facebook,?Pinterest?and?Twitter?for more news about the horse world. To make sure you don’t miss any news, grab the blog’s RSS feed and also? follow or subscribe to this blog?s headline news stream via ScoopIt.

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