Press release by RathmannVerlag
Two years ago, it was announced that the recipient of the 2020 Meteor Award is Sönke Sönksen. For nearly 24 months, the organisers have tried to find a suitable setting for the honorary award ceremony — time and again, measures to curb the corona pandemic thwarted the planning of the festivities. Last Freitag, the rider, trainer, coach and judge Sönke Sönksen was presented with the prestigious award at Hotel des Schlosses Breitenburg.
Only close friends and companions had gathered to honour Sönke Sönksen, born in Meldorf in Dithmarschen in 1938: Lutz Gössing, Susanne Behring, Breido Graf zu Rantzau, Peter and Carla Rathmann, and of course the award winner Sönke Sönksen with his wife Ursula and son Gordon. Official regulations left no room for larger-scale planning until shortly before the event. But award donor Peter Rathmann of RathmannVerlag made it clear: „Dear Sönke, just because the setting for the festivities is a little smaller, it is no less valuable and honours your life's work just as much as it would in front of a large audience.“
Horses have always been part of Sönke Sönksen's life. Since 1966, he had been based at the stable of meat processing factory owner and sport stable proprietor Werner Stockmeyer in Versmold. As early as 1967, he won the Grand Prix of Neumünster with Odysseus. In the 1970s, the award winner was among the most successful athletes in the republic: at the 1975 European Championships in Munich, he won team gold and individual bronze with Kwept; at the Olympic Games a year later in Montreal, Canada, he jumped to the silver medal with the team. At the German Championships, he was awarded silver in 1975 and gold in 1978. Following his active career, he accepted a coaching position with the German Olympic Committee for Equestrianism (DOKR) in 1992 alongside the then national coach Herbert Meyer, serving as chef d'équipe for German teams at Nations Cups around 50 times until 2001.
The laudator and former president of the German Equestrian Federation (FN), Breido Graf zu Rantzau, paid tribute: „Sönke, you are the 13th recipient of the Meteor Award, and I would venture to say a very special one. You are one of the show jumpers who has fought all his life not for himself, but for our sport, and that is a life's work for our shared cause that I do not see in anyone else. We are all very grateful to you for this.“ And he added: „Your straightforwardness, your reliability, honesty and humour distinguish you. Your words always carried weight. You were the steadfast lighthouse in an increasingly stormy life. If only we had more people like such people.“ Sönke Sönksen responded to the speech with a humorous wink: „Breido, I expect you are right about everything you said. I thank RathmannVerlag for the award and everyone present that we can spend this evening together.“ The 2020 Meteor Award is endowed with prize money of 1,500 euros, which Sönke Sönksen will make available to a charitable organisation.
About the Meteor Award
The Meteor Award has been one of the republic's most prestigious awards since its first presentation in 2008. Extraordinary merits and achievements of individuals who are particularly committed to the sport and breeding are honoured with this award.
Previous award winners:
2008: ARD commentator Hans-Heinrich Isenbart
2009: FN President and NOK Vice-President Dieter Graf Landsberg-Velen
2010: National coach Herbert Meyer
2011: Show jumper Peter Luther
2012: Warsteiner Brewery/Catharina Cramer
2013: Rider and patron Madeleine Winter-Schulze
2014: Herbert Blöcker (posthumous)
2015: Horse breeder and judge Hans-Helmut Sievers
2016: Long-standing managing director of the PSH Dieter Stut and state coach of the PSH Detlef Peper
2017: Breido Graf zu Rantzau, President of the German Equestrian Federation (FN)
2018: Donata von Preußen, long-standing editor-in-chief of the magazine 'Pferd+Sport'
2019: Klaus C. Plönzke, ClipMyHorse.TV
2020: Sönke Sönksen, rider, trainer, coach, chef d'équipe
Photo Stefan Stuhr: From left to right: Award donor Peter Rathmann from RathmannVerlag, award winner Sönke Sönksen and Breido Graf zu Rantzau, laudator and former president of the German Equestrian Federation (FN).
