Elisabeth Theurer

Elisabeth "Sissy" Theurer, later known as Elisabeth Max-Theurer after her marriage to riding instructor Hans Max, is an Austrian equestrian born September 20, 1956, in Linz, Austria. She achieved her greatest success in individual dressage: she won gold at the 1979 European Dressage Championships in Aarhus riding her horse Mon Cherie, and the following year became Olympic champion at the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics on the same horse, the pair noted for their piaffe-passage work and pirouettes. She has remained active in equestrian sport administration since her competitive career, serving as President of the Austrian Association for Riding and Carriage Driving from 2002 and earning her FEI five-star Olympic judge certification in 2018; her daughter Victoria also became an Olympic equestrian.