Watch Karin Donckers & Fletcha Van`t Verahof At Rio Olympics

Born in 1971 in Hoogstraten, Belgium. Karin Donckers began riding at the age of 9, she first started competing at 15 and showed lots of promise finishin 16th in the junior European Eventing championships, 2 years later as a young rider she would finish in 11th place European Eventing Championships for young riders .

Karin would make the step up into the senior level competition and represent Belgium at many major championships, in 1992 she would participate at the Barcelona Olympics and finish 8th in the individual competition. Karin would again represent Belgium at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 with Gormley but a serious fall in the steeple chase section would result in a broken back for Karin forcing a long layoff from competition.

After her recovery Karin Donckers would work to get to the back of the sport, she would represent Belgium at the 2003 European championships and again another Olympics in 2004 in Athens, Greece. Karin would go on to compete at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, as well as the 2012 London Olympics and her sixth Olympics in Rio in 2016.