Pentathlete Patrick Dogue: "My past is being stolen from me right now"

Created: 01/13/2022, 10:00 AM

From: Dieter Priglmeir

Patrick Dogue took a two month break after the Olympics.

© Swen Pförtner / dpa

He grew up in Oberdorfen and was an Olympian in Rio and Tokyo.

Now Patrick Dogue comments on the latest decisions and changes around the modern pentathlon.

Oberdorfen / Potsdam

- As determined as Patrick Dogue is in his sport, the modern pentathlon is just as clear about the two most recent decisions.

He regrets that the proceedings against his colleague Annika Schleu for animal cruelty have been discontinued in return for a monetary payment.

And Dogue makes it clear: He will not switch from horse to bike.

As reported, Dogue's teammate at the Olympic Games in Tokyo beat her raffled horse Saint Boy with a whip in the riding competition. Trainer Kim Raisner encouraged her to do so and hit the horse with her fist. According to the prosecutor, the two were in an exceptional situation because of the competition and the horse was not injured. Schleu, however, had to pay 500 euros to a non-profit organization.

That looks like an admission of guilt, thinks Dogue. “Annika is just tired and happy that it's all over.” But the Oberdorfener also makes it clear: “For me, the right people were not held accountable.” For him it would have been the horse owners who had strapped on a forbidden bridle, but also the organizer for the improper construction of the tournament venue and the veterinarian who should have taken Saint Boy out of the competition after a Russian woman rode. "Annika was pushed into this situation," criticizes Dogue. He calls the "proxy war" in the equestrian versus animal welfare dilemma.

The events in Tokyo also took the 1.97-meter man from Oberdorf with them. He was not at the training site for two months. Jogging with friends - nothing more was possible. "It took me a little while I also got some messages on social media that weren't very nice," he says. The bad image of his sport preoccupies him. "My past is being stolen from me," says the sports soldier. “I used to be able to proudly share what I do. And now? I'll be 30 in two months and have to think about it: What do I say in job interviews about what I've done over the past ten years and what I've trained so hard for? If this is googled, what picture do they have of me? I had to deal with that first. "

Two months without exercise - when asked whether he had gained two or three kilos, Dogue had to laugh.

“If only there had been three.

From the outside you could hardly see it, but I drank a wheat beer. "

The motivation was simply down - especially since it was decided to take riding out of the pentathlon in favor of cycling, "without communicating with us athletes".

He found out from a journalist.

I like to cycle to the training ground and back - but nothing more.

Patrick Dogue on a possible replacement discipline in modern pentathlon

Dogue is annoyed with the International Federation: “They pretend we can't all ride. Yes, we can, but only with horses that are suitable for competitions. ”Again and again it happened that competitions were canceled because the athletes refused to ride for the benefit of the animals.

Nationally, the functionaries would certainly look for solutions, but internationally "some committees are convened, which then delay everything," said Dogue. “We athletes have long since noticed that nobody listens to us. Petitions, applications - everything is ignored. "With reference to the latest bar allegations against Ludger Beerbaum, Dogue says:" Of course I strongly disapprove of such practices. And I also think: You have to see equestrian sport as a whole. If it is no longer up-to-date, then that's the way it is. And then the modern pentathlon should become a four-way fight. ”He doesn't believe in cycling as a possible alternative discipline. The essence of the modern pentathlon, which Dogue has been contesting since 2004, is sport on land, in water, with weapons and with animals. Cycling is not part of the spirit of the sport.He will certainly not change saddles. "I like to cycle to the training ground and back - but that's all."

After 2024, the switch to cycling could take place - after the Olympics.

In Paris, Dogue wants to be there again - after Rio and Tokyo.

He is back in training and is looking forward to the first competition in Hungary in mid-February and the first World Cup in March.

The break did him good, he says.

“I see everything more relaxed now.

I give 100 percent every day in training.

But I will not allow myself to be bent if it is morally wrong for me. "