- Steve (Guerdat) says what he thinks, and is clear when he does it. He doesn't allow himself to be impressed by anyone and doesn't care what others think, says Radiosport's expert commentator Maria Gretzer, who has competed at the highest international level.
- Something that shouldn't be interpreted as him being a diva, he really isn't. Rather, he is a solid person in every way.
The national team captain of the Swedish show jumping team, Henrik Ankarcrona, describes Steve Guerdat as a man who goes his own way.
- Such individuals are always interesting. It is often the kind of people who are involved and influence the sport going forward. He has a point of view, and he's not afraid to say it. You have to respect that even if you don't always agree with everything, says Ankarcrona.
There is a scene after Steve Guerdat secured the World Cup jumping gold in Aachen two weeks ago that speaks volumes for the respect he holds in equestrian circles.
When the final day began, the German Marcus Ehning was one of the gold candidates, but a tear in each of the two final rounds cost him the medal.
Despite that, he was genuinely happy when the 44-year-old from Switzerland rode home the WC gold
The hug when the new master and Ehning met was not that polite hug, rather heartfelt and genuine.
When even those who have lost a medal forget their own disappointment to rejoice with the victor, you belong to a special category of athletes.
Perhaps even more so because Steve Guerdat is the one who most strongly questions the sport's choice of path when it comes to financial matters. Something that could be perceived as criticism of the colleagues who choose a different path.
- Those of his competitors who, like him, are genuine horse people, rather respect him for that, says Maria Gretzer.
When Jan Tops, who was once Steve Guerdat's employer, started the cash-strapped Global Champions Tour and League, the Swiss star was not impressed.
He believed that the system around which the competition was built went against much of what he thinks the sport of show jumping should stand for, such as the fact that the teams are owned by sponsors who then select their riders. Indirectly, it opened the possibility that it would be possible to buy a place in the competition.
- I don't want to leave behind a sport only for the rich, Steve Guerdat said, among other things, in an interview with SVT.
Guerdat also believed that the choice of competition venues lacked anchoring in the sport.
The latter was the reason why Steve Guerdat announced at the beginning of last year that he was boycotting the League of Nations team competition organized by the international equestrian sports federation FEI.
That year, the FEI chose, among other things, to remove a sub-competition in St. Gallen, on the other hand, Abu Dhabi got one.
- There are fantastic competitions around the world with a fantastic atmosphere. It is precisely the atmosphere I miss at competitions that are arranged for a more exclusive audience than for a horse-interested public. Therefore, I cannot understand the FEI's strategy with the Longines League of Nations, said Steve Guerdat in a press release.
For the same reason, he criticized last summer's EC, which was decided at the Spanish horse farm Casas Novas, two miles from A Coruña, which only had around 2,000 spectators.
Equestrian sport is an expensive sport. It can never be argued against. Nor that money matters. If horse owners are to be prepared to invest lots of millions, there must be the possibility of getting something back.
Something that Steve Guerdat is obviously aware of and does not object to. But he fights for a balance where the sport is not reduced to being only about money.
A choice of path he made 20 years ago, and for which he then had to pay dearly.
When Guerdat left Jan Tops in 2006, he had made a name for himself as a good rider. But building a successful business of your own is difficult regardless of how skilled you are on horseback.
During this time, a Ukrainian billionaire Oleksandr Onistchenko wanted to buy a national team. He offered Steve Guerdat four years' salary in advance and, perhaps most importantly, promised to buy him good horses.
The counter demand was that he agreed to become a Ukrainian citizen.
After much hesitation, Guerdat said yes. He immediately got an apartment in Liège, a car and money in the account, and during a competition in French La Baule in May 2006 the contract was to be signed. A signature that meant the Swiss would start competing for Ukraine.
Today, the world champion rarely talks about what happened but claims that he wants to look ahead. But in a twelve-year-old interview with the Aachener Zeitung, which the site rolexgrandslam.com also published, Guerdat told what happened when he sat with the pen in his hand:
- I simply could not sign it. It felt wrong.
With immediate effect, he lost his apartment, car, money and horses. The future was a question mark.
Horses entered Steve Guerdat's life early. His father Philippe Guerdat was an accomplished show jumper who participated in two Olympics.
Although Philippe Guerdat was not in the financial position to replace everything his son had lost, he had something else, namely important connections that could help Steve Guerdat further. Among other things, father Geurdat introduced Steve to his friend Yves Piaget, who was the CEO of a large watch and jewelry company.
Just over two years after the turbulent day in La Boule, Steve Guerdat made his Olympic debut with the horse Jalisca Solier owned by Yves Piaget.
What had happened was history and the future looked bright again. Something it continued to do.
When Steve Guerdat rode home the WC gold in Aachen with the horse Dynamix de Belheme two weeks ago, he completed a triple.
In 2012 he took individual Olympic gold, in 2023 he won individual European Championship gold and in Aachen he secured the only individual gold medal he was missing.
What makes Steve Guerdat a good rider?
- He has a great ability to get the horses with him. Now there is a lot of discussion about what the horses want and don't want to do. I don't really have an answer to that, but as far as Steve is concerned, my opinion is that the horses are fighting for him, says union captain Henrik Ankarcrona.
- He has something that makes the horses very happy with him. It is also what means that he has been able to perform again and again and with different horses.
In 2017, Steve Guerdat took over Paul Weier's business in Elgg, a town in the district of Winterthur in the canton of Zurich.
An equestrian center that Maria Gretzer knows well. For two and a half years in the 80s, she worked for Paul Weier.
- It's a fantastic place with hills and grassland all over, says Maria Gretzer and her voice reveals how well she enjoyed herself there.
The hilly ground, Gretzer believes, is one of several partial explanations for Guerdat's success.
- When you train in such a place, you must be able to ride the horse in balance. If you look at Steve when he rides, he has incredible feeling and balance. I think this is because he mainly works with the horses outdoors on grass. Something he did from a young age and which he then continued with, says Gretzer.
After the WC gold, there has been no rest for the world champion.
The weekend after the WC, he competed in Belgium. This weekend he competes at home in Switzerland, and next week a major competition awaits in Canada
