Leon Thijssen is a Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 show jumper.

Thijssen won his first international tournament in 2000, when he won the Grand Prix meeting in Vilamoura

Vilamoura

Vilamoura is in the municipality of Loulé, in the Algarve, Portugal. Its boundaries lie within the parish of Quarteira. Vilamoura is a purpose built resort and Marina which was started from scratch by a wealthy banker from Porto, Cupertino de Miranda. The resort was started in 1974 and is still...

 with his horse Hickory. A year later in Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

 he won the Super League meeting with Hot Shot. It took him until 2004 to reach another international podium, but he managed to achieve a second place in Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

 and a third place in Zuidlaren

Zuidlaren

Zuidlaren is a village in the province of Drenthe in the Northern Netherlands. Zuidlaren has just over 10,000 inhabitants and is situated on natural heightened land which is called the Hondsrug....

, both on Nairobi. He was successful in two Super League meetings in 2005 with a second place in Aachen

Aachen

Aachen has historically been a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. Geographically, Aachen is the westernmost town of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, ...

 and a first position in Barcelona

Barcelona

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

.

With his horse Olaf he won the 2006 Grand Prix in Madrid and later that year he became second at the Grand Prix meeting in De Steeg. In 2007 his best results were on Nairobi again, when he won the Grand Prix meetings in Valkenswaard

Valkenswaard

Valkenswaard is a municipality and a town in the southern Netherlands, in the province of North Brabant. The municipality had 30,871 citizens and spans an area of 56,50 square kilometers ....

 and Maastricht

Maastricht

Maastricht is situated on both sides of the Meuse river in the south-eastern part of the Netherlands, on the Belgian border and near the German border...

. They also finished on the second spot at the Spruce Meadows

Spruce Meadows

Spruce Meadows is an equestrian facility in Calgary, Alberta built by the Southern Family and opened in 1976. The show jumping complex is in the foothills of the Alberta Rocky Mountains just south of the city and comprises...

 Super League meeting. With Olaf he reached the third spot in the Super League meeting in Lummen

Lummen

Lummen is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg near Hasselt. On January 1, 2006 Lummen had a total population of 13,691. The total area is 53.38 km² which gives a population density of 256 inhabitants per km²....

. Then in 2008 he won his second career title in De Steeg, again with Olaf. Thijssen was selected by coach Rob Ehrens as a reserve to represent the Netherlands at the 2008 Summer Olympics

2008 Summer Olympics

The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...

 in Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

. Former Olympic champion Jeroen Dubbeldam

Jeroen Dubbeldam

Jeroen Dubbeldam is a Dutch show jumping champion.-Olympic Record:Dubbeldam competed at the 2000 Summer Olympics held in Sydney, where he won a gold medal in Individual Jumping with the horse De Sjiem.-References:...

 and Albert Zoer

Albert Zoer

Albert Zoer is a Dutch champion of show jumping. He owns his own business, called Zoer B.V., for breeding and training stallions, a venture with which his father, Arent Zoer, helps him.,- Background :...

 had to withdraw due to injuries and were replaced by Marc Houtzager

Marc Houtzager

Marc Houtzager is a Dutch show jumper.Houtzager competed in the 2002 Show Jumping World Cup circuit and won the meeting in Dublin. After that he kept on riding international tournaments, but never succeeded on World Cup level again. In 2008 he and his team mates became Dutch national champion in...

 and Angelique Hoorn

Angelique Hoorn

Angelique Hoorn is a Dutch show jumper.As a newcomer Hoorn reached the fourth position at the 2000 Dutch National Show Jumping Championships, announcing her appearance for the upcoming years. Together with her horse Hascal she won the 2001 Championship in Papendal...

. The rest of the team exists of Gerco Schröder

Gerco Schröder

Gerco Bernardus Schröder is a Dutch show jumping equestrian.Gerco Schröder represented the Netherlands at the 2004 Summer Olympics where he took part in the individual jumping competition and the show jumping team event alongside Wim Schröder, Leopold van Asten and Gert-Jan Bruggink...

 and Vincent Voorn

Vincent Voorn

Vincent Voorn is a Dutch show jumper. His father is Albert Voorn who also competed as an international show jumper....

.