Beerbaum named amongst top-100 German sports stars by the German tabloid the Bild.

The German tabloid, the Bild, has created a ranking of the most popular German sports stars for 2014, and equestrian fans will be glad to know that Ludger Beerbaum has been named amongst them and features in 52nd place, in between the Arsenal footballer Mesut Ozil (of Turkish descent but a member of the Germany squad that won the World Cup in Brazil) and the tennis player Tommy Haas.
Ludger Beerbaum is the best ranked figure from the equestrian world in this special list of top-100 German sports stars, but we do also find in 55th place the dressage rider Ingrid Klimke, the queen of dressage with the German team at the latest World Equestrian Games. Quite a few places behind but nonetheless part of the list, we find another dressage star Michael Jung in 82nd place, a genuine champion in the eventing discipline. A reminder that Jung is the current Olympic Champion, 2 time World Champion (2010 Lexington and Normandy 2014) and 2 time European Champion (2011 in Salzhausen in the individual category and team category and in 2013 in Malmo in the individual and team category).
First place went to the Lazio striker with Polish origins Miroslav Klose, who was part of the Germany World Cup winning squad and also marked the finals in Brazil by becoming the all-time leading scorer in World Cup history. 8 of the first 10 positions are occupied by footballers, and they are all members of the Germany squad that was crowned World Champions for the 4th time in the team’s history in Brazil. They are: the goalkeeper Manuel Neuer in second, midfielder Thomas Muller in 4th place, defender Mats Hummels in 5th place, wingers Bastian Schweinsteiger and Philipp Lahm in 6th and 8th place respectively and the forward with Brazilian origins Marco Reus in 10th.
The other 2 sports-stars that managed to break into the top-ten and end the football dominance were the NBA star Dirk Nowitzki, a pillar of the German national team and in third place in the German tabloid’s poll, while in seventh place we find the Bavarian skier Felix Neureuther. The poll to elect the top 100 German sports stars for the year took place between the 12th and the 18th of December and over 1000 people were interviewed and asked who was their favourite from the various sports and disciplines.
source: http://www.bild.de/sport/2014/sportler/die-100-beliebtesten-39110980.bil…