Article by Giovanni Manenti
Introduced in Olympic Equestrian Program after the 1912 Stockholm Games like the Dressage specialty – while show jumping was already present in the Parisi 1900 edition, only to be canceled in the following two – the Eventing (which includes dressage, cross country and show jumping competitions in three consecutive days …) see the affirmation of the home riders who, in addition to winning the Gold Medal in the individual event with Axel Nordlander, they also assert themselves in Teams, preceding Germany and the United States …
A success that the Scandinavian country replies to the resumption of competitive activity at the end of the tragic war events of the First World War, this time it was Helmer Morner’s turn to impose himself at the Antwerp 1920 Games, with the Swedish triumph completed by Age Lundstrom’s silver and from the affirmation in the team event, to then fail for over 30 years to see one of its representatives climb (metaphorically, given the combination with the horse …) on the highest step of the podium, having to settle for the individual bronze won by Clarence von Rosen in 1932 in Los Angeles and by Robert Selfelt in 1948 in Londonthe latter edition in which Sweden takes the silver in the team event, the same placement also obtained in Paris in 1924.
To make this abstinence stop comes a noble aristocrat, viz Baron Hans von Blixen-Finecke Jr, born on 20 July 1916 in Linkoping, son of the homonymous Hans von Blixen Sr, himself an Olympian at the 1912 Stockholm Gameswhere he won the individual bronze in Dressage to complete an entirely Swedish podium, not being able to add the team title, as it was not yet foreseen at the time, to then die in a plane crash at the end of September 1917 at the age of only 31 years old…
The son intends to retrace his father’s footsteps, even if he has not practically known him, both from the point of view of his military career, becoming since the age of majority a member of the Swedish Royal Horse Regimentwhich as regards participation in the Games, in addition to increasing the level of family nobility, having married in 1941 to Baroness Anna Beck-Friisa union from which the sons Hans and Gustav were born.
The right opportunity to revive the ancient Scandinavian glories in the Complete comes when the Olympics return to this area, namely with the Helsinki 1952 editionwhich opens with the affirmation of Henry Saint Cyr in Dressage, also joining the Gold in the team event, an extra incentive to do well for the trio of pairs who on July 30, 1952 are preparing to take part in the Dressage test, composed of von Blixen on Jubal, Olof Stahre on Komet and Folke Frolén on Fair, while curiously our Piero D’Inzeo is also in the match, usually engaged in show jumping …
The first race of Dressage sees the Finnish rider Mauno Roiha finish in first place with 84 penalty points, but he is disqualified the day after during the cross country test, like the blues Lucio Manzin and Salvatore Oppes, so that at the end of the second stage here is that von Blixen, result by far the best totaling 105 points, takes the lead of the provisional classification by recovering from 14th position with 18.33 penalty points, preceding his compatriot Stahre with 27.66 and the Frenchman Guy Lefrant a quota 44,50.
The blue Piero D’Inzeo, not very comfortable on the cross-country course, is in tenth place with 66.80 penalty pointswith therefore little possibility of aspiring to the podium, although being able to take advantage of the race of Show jumping which takes place on 2 August 1952 on a course made up of 12 barriers and drawn on the lawn of the “Olympic stadium” of the Finnish capital …
As foreseeable, the reduced length of the track and the lesser difficulty of the barriers compared to the true specialty of show jumping mean that our bearer, riding Pagoro, performs a “clear path” however not enough to enter the Medal Zone, given that the confirmation of his penalties after the two rounds only makes him go back to sixth positionjust four points behind fourth-placed Argentinian Pedro Mercado.
Who, on the other hand, manages to take full advantage of the obstacle course is the German Wilhelm Busing, also capable of not making a mistake so as to secure the bronze with a total of 55.50 penalties, even touching the silver which Lefrant secures with 54.50 penaltieswhile Stahre sinks and runs into a series of uncertainties that cost him 41.75 penalty points, slipping from second to eighth position …
Last down on the lawn, von Blixen – cousin of the famous writer Karen Blixen (née Dinesen), the latter having married her paternal uncle Bror von Blixen – fears he could end up like his compatriot, but the large margin of advantage acquired leads him not to risk excessively and the only 10 penalty points achieved allow him to successfully complete the test and, with a total of 28.33 penalties, to win the Gold Medalwhich also combines the affirmation in the team classification, with Sweden totaling 221.94 penalty points compared to 235.49 for the German trio.
After the Olympic triumph, von Blixen also takes part in the following edition which takes place – as far as the riding trials only are concerned – in Stockholm in mid-June 1956, but despite competing in front of his own public he does not go beyond a disappointing 24th position, even though Sweden confirm their success in Helsinki thanks to Petrus Kastenmanfor what is still today the last affirmation of one’s own country in this specialty …
Different career outside the sports field, with Hans von Blixen to be promoted to Major in 1957 and then to serve from 1959 to 1964 as Commander of the Swedish Army Riding Schooland then having remarried in his second marriage to Anne Hetherington, abandoning military life to land in England where he runs an Equestrian Center in Surrey, before moving to Cornwall in the early 70s.
Hans von Blixen spends the last years of his life in Penzance, a small port of just over 20,000 souls located on the English Channel, where he died peacefully on 16 February 2005 at the age of 88 of age…
I wonder if they will have remembered him at home, the “Baron d’Oro” swedish …