Bert ROMP

Romp began as a rider in the late 1970s, and gained his breakthrough a decade later. His first international success was selection to the Dutch Olympic team for Barcelona 1992, with Waldo E. While the Dutch jumping team earned a gold medal, Romp did not receive a medal.  For the first time, non-scoring team members (the lowest score didn't count) were not awarded medals. Romp also won a team silver at the 1997 Europeans, and earned two wins in the World Cup circuit (Berlin 1997 and Paris 1998), all riding on Mr. Blue. Romp withdrew from top level competition after the 1998 World Cup Final. He then functioned as the Dutch national jumping coach between 2000 and 2004, serving at the Sydney and Athens Olympics. Starting in 1990, Romp operated his own stables, where he also trained his three sons, Remon, Ruben and Jesper. All of them rode internationally at youth and junior levels. Ruben also competed internationally at the senior level, participating in the 2017 European Championships. At age 59, Bert Romp died of injuries sustained by being kicked in the head by a horse while loading it onto a trailer.