Jessica Kürten
| Jessica Kürten | |||||||||||||
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||
| Full name | Jessica Kürten | ||||||||||||
| Nationality | Ireland | ||||||||||||
| Discipline | Show jumping | ||||||||||||
| Born |
24 November 1969 Cullybackey, Northern Ireland |
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| Height | 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) | ||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Jessica Kürten (24 November 1969) is an Irish equestrian who competes in the sport of show jumping.
Born Jessica Chesney, Kürten won several national pony championships as a youth.
In 1994 Kürten married Eckard Kürten and moved to Hünxe in the German Rhineland. She has twice represented Ireland at the Olympic Games, 1996 Atlanta on Diamond's Exchange finishing 26th individually and team 8th and in 2004 Athens on Castle Forbes Maike finishing 18th individually.
Kurten had been the highest ranked Irish rider (apart from October 2009 (Ranking no. 106), and January 2010 (Ranking no. 109), where Denis Lynch held the title) until July 2010 (Ranking no. 116) when Denis Lynch took over.
She reached her highest ever World Rankinin April 2008 (No. 88) where she was the 2nd highest ranked rider in the world.
As of the end of December 2011, she is ranked 108th in the Rolex World Rankings – Irelands no. 7.
In 2006 Kürten was a judge on the BBC's Only Fools on Horses event.
In April 2007 she won the prestigious British Open Show Jumping Championships title at the NEC, Birmingham, UK. In 2007, Kürten's horse Castle Forbes Maike was found tested positive for etoricoxib, after a competition in La Baule in France. She then challenged the result. The judgement was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport and Kurten was suspended for two months
The contract between Jessica and Lady Georgina Forbes was terminated by the latter on 31 December 2010. Lady Forbes owned many of Kürten's most successful horses including Quibell, Castle Forbes Libertina, Castle Forbes Cosma, and Castle Forbes Myrtille Paulois. A spokesman for Jessica said: "There are financial commitments which need to be cleared up between the owner and Kurtens, as well as third parties. There are diverse details also for the German tax authorities which need to be sorted out due to the fact that Lady Georgina Forbes is Irish and lives in Switzerland." The spat was taken to another level, with a court rejecting an application for a temporary injunction to return the horses to Lady Forbes, so the horses remain in the Kürten's care in Germany while a solution to the matter is sought. At the beginning of March, Kürten stated that both parties "have different point of views how financial claims between themselves and in regard to third parties can be settled." The five horses were handed over on 20 April in the presence of lawyers and veterinarians, and €300,000 was posted by Lady Georgina Forbes as a guarantee against future claims by the Kürtens.
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Wikipedia