German three-day event rider Thies Kaspareit won the team gold medal with the West German team at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Individually, he placed ninth. Kaspareit was nominated as a substitute, but when then non-Olympian Wolfgang Mengers’ horse died shortly after transport to Seoul, Kaspareit was added to the team.
Kaspareit was awarded the Silver Bay Leaf, Germany`s highest sports award. He became a riding trainer at the Bundeswehr sports school in Warendorf. He became director of the German Academy of the Horse at its founding in 1998, whose main tasks were to convey scientific knowledge about horses and equestrian sports.
West Germany