How long do pictures work?
Can sometimes be read from the post office, in this case from the lawyer.
"Ms. Schleu is just as interested in a conclusion of the investigation as in the continuation of the discussion on the protection of animals, especially horses in and outside of sport," writes Annika Schleu's legal representative on the news that the Potsdam public prosecutor is opening the investigation against his client because of alleged violations of the Animal Welfare Act against payment of 500 euros to a non-profit organization.
What that means? The termination of the proceedings against payment conditions does not constitute an admission of guilt, says Annika Schleus lawyer. Among the indignant, to whom the pictures of August 7, 2021 and the desperate attempts of Annika Schleu and her trainer Kim Raisner to move the raffled horse Saint Boy into the course, the blows with the whip, Raisner's call to "hit it right", are still in front of your eyes and ringing in your ears, there may be some who see it differently.
In fact, the proceedings initiated by the public prosecutor's office are coming to an expectable end. Schleu agreed to the setting for “purely procedural reasons,” writes her lawyer. Shortly after the games, the athlete spoke in an interview with “Die Zeit” about how much the hatred that hit her on social media had shocked her. It is understandable through and through that she refrained from having her legal opinion that she did not unlawfully mistreated Saint Boy have a judicial review in a main hearing.
Her lawyer writes that his "extremely animal-loving client" wants to contribute to the discussion about the treatment of animals inside and outside of sport. That will be necessary because the modern pentathlon has been taken out of the program by the International Olympic Committee until an alternative to riding has been found - but only at the games after next, in Los Angeles in 2028. In two and a half years in Paris, the sport with the well-known disciplines will be carried out in an even tighter time frame than in Tokyo, although the stress between rider and horse was obviously too often too great in Tokyo format, not only for Annika Schleu and Saint Boy.
A sport cannot be canceled if the qualification cycles have already started - this logic is dictated by the business and the statics of the sports associations with the IOC at the top, not by the thought of animal welfare.
The end of the cavalry for the modern pentathlon should at the same time be without alternative and postponable.
This contradiction alone shows very clearly who is primarily responsible when the Olympic Games produce images that remain in the memory, even though they want to make everyone forget as quickly as possible.