Before his first Olympic appearance, he competed for West Germany, but in 1972 became an Austrian citizen.

[1] He won a silver medal at age 49 at the team event at the 1992 Olympics on the horse Apricot D. Four years later, at age 53, he came fourth in the individual event after a jump-off involving seven riders competing for two medals.

[2] He was the first person to win three World Cup titles, at the inaugural 1979 contest (on Gladstone) and also in 1997 and 1998 (both on E.T.).

[3] This feat was later matched by Rodrigo Pessoa in 2000 ,Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum in 2009, Marcus Ehning 2010 and Steve Guerdat 2019.

This followed by numerous Grand Prix's nations cups and another four Olympic Games, with The Freak, Gipsy Lady, Apricot D and E.T.