Patrik Kittel (born 10 June 1976 in Österåker,

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

) is a Swedish horse rider. He was born in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

. He competed at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, where he placed fourth in team dressage. At the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

he competed in the team dressage events and qualified for the Grand Prix Special and Grand Prix Freestyle, finishing 14th.

Controversy

The practice of

Rollkur Rollkur or hyperflexion of the horse's neck is defined as "flexion of the horse's neck achieved through aggressive force" and is banned in International and Olympic sanctioned equestrian sports by the governing body, the International Federation f ...

or hyperflexion of the horse's neck has been banned by the world governing body, the

International Federation for Equestrian Sports The International Federation for Equestrian Sports (, FEI) is the international governing body of equestrian sports. The FEI headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland. An FEI code of conduct protects the welfare of the horses from physical abu ...

(FEI), following the release of video of Swedish dressage rider Patrik Kittel using rollkur during warm up at a competition in Denmark, where the horse's tongue appeared to turn blue as a result of the manoeuvre.

Personal life

He is married to Australian dressage rider Lyndal Oatley.

References

1976 births Living people Sportspeople from Stockholm Swedish dressage riders Equestrians at the 2008 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 2012 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic equestrians of Sweden Swedish male equestrians {{Sweden-equestrian-bio-stub